What I've heard is that the companies that make memory didn't slow production, but they didn't ramp up production either. They kept it at the same rate, and then just watched as the prices went up. At least the workers in some of those companies went on strike so they could get a share of the immense profits.

But, they weren't colluding with the AI companies or nVidia. Those companies were pissed off that they had to pay top dollar for memory. They wanted the companies to invest in more production capacity so they could buy the memory for a reasonable price. But, there were only a couple of companies that manufacture memory, so it was easy for them to collude and screw over the hyperscalers (and incidentally ordinary consumers).

The current (manufactured) hot thing in diamonds is highlighting flaws, like minor changes in color, to prove that it's a natural diamond. It's a real 180° from previous marketing that marked up "flawless" diamonds.

Or, "Swarovski crystal", which is glass, not diamond.

As for the "fake Chinese GPUs", yeah they're ripoffs, and they're improving their manufacturing process to catch up with the US very quickly.