In 2002, armed with the Sherman Antitrust Act, the United States Department of Justice began a probe into the activities of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) manufacturers.

US computer makers, including Dell and Gateway, claimed that inflated DRAM pricing was causing lost profits and hindering their effectiveness in the marketplace.

To date, five manufacturers have pleaded guilty to their involvement in an international price-fixing conspiracy including Hynix, Infineon, Micron Technology, Samsung, and Elpida.

In 2006, the company established Akita Elpida to take on the development of advanced back-end technology processes.

[6] In July 2011, Elpida announced that it planned to raise $987 million by selling shares and bonds.

[7] In August 2011, Elpida claimed to be the first memory maker to begin sampling 25 nm DRAMs.

[4] The company suffered from both strong yen and a sharp drop of DRAM prices as a result of stagnant demand of personal computers and disruption of computer production caused by flooding of HDD factories in Thailand.

[12] In February 2013, Tokyo court and Elpida creditors approved an acquisition by Micron Technology.

[18] In October 2023, the government once again approved a $1.3 billion subsidy for the Hiroshima chip factory.