Antitrust

• New Jersey has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Amazon, alleging that the company's control over its delivery contractors is illegal. • The state claims that Amazon's restrictive practices have negatively impacted driver wages, labor competition, and overall working conditions. • This legal action highlights growing regulatory scrutiny regarding the "gig economy" and the classification of independent contractors versus employees.

• A U.S. class action lawsuit has been filed against memory giants Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron, alleging they colluded to manipulate DRAM prices. • Plaintiffs claim the companies intentionally cut production of legacy DDR3 and DDR4 products under the pretext of transitioning to High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), causing prices to surge by 700% over four years. • The price spike reportedly forced Apple to increase the retail costs of its Mac and iPad product lines to offset higher component expenses.

• The European Commission has launched a public consultation on the draft of its new merger guidelines to update antitrust oversight. • The initiative follows recent regulatory scrutiny in the chocolate sector and investigations into Italian private-label markets. • These updates aim to modernize how the EU evaluates market competition and sustainability within financial and industrial regulations.

• Author Anik Bhaduri argues that current antitrust efforts against Big Tech are insufficient because they ignore the role of corporate governance and securities regulation in enabling economic concentration. • The piece asserts that meaningful constraints on tech giants require complementary reforms to address the financial foundations that sustain their market power. • This perspective highlights a critical regulatory "blind spot," suggesting that antitrust laws alone cannot dismantle the systemic influence of Big Tech without financial market oversight.

• Researchers from Carnegie Mellon and Northwestern Universities conclude insurer consolidation boosts health insurance premiums in US markets. • About 238 million Americans, or 78% of those insured, rely on private health insurance, increasingly concentrated with examples in Medicare Advantage drawing antitrust attention. • The analysis urges regulation and oversight to address market imperfections from asymmetric information and market power.

The US Department of Justice issued subpoenas to NVIDIA investigating alleged 'loyalty penalties' that deter customers from rival AI hardware makers like Grok and Cerebras. This probe targets NVIDIA's dominance in AI chips, dubbed the 'new oil,' amid warnings that such chips will stay US-based without foreign investment in American manufacturing. The action intensifies semiconductor sovereignty battles, potentially reshaping competition as AI infrastructure surges.