But prices of DRAMs (dynamic random access memory chips) have continued to fall and there are few signs of demand picking up any time soon.

CNN: PAINFUL MEMORIES

In perhaps the best-known example of standards abuse, Rambus was accused by the Federal Trade Commission of helping to develop standards for dynamic random access memory chips without disclosing the fact it held patents on key parts of the technology.

FORBES: Liberty Media Unit Says Standards Manipulated By Competitors

At present Micron Technology (nyse: MU - news - people ) and other producers of dynamic random access memory chips for computers--one of the most competitive industries on the planet--are confronted with charges from the Justice Department that imply all three pricing offenses at once.

FORBES: Magazine Article

Most recently, stiff competition and the rising cost of improving chips has made it even harder for surviving makers of dynamic random-access memory, the chips known as DRAMs that are used to store data in personal computers and server systems.

WSJ: Micron Tech CEO Dies in Plane Accident

Clear gainers include Intel, which produces 85% of all microprocessors, and the makers of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips such as Japan's NEC and Toshiba and South Korea's Samsung Electronics, LG Semicon and Hyundai Electronics.

CNN: Getting Ready for Asia's PC Wars