Samsung cops $300m price fixing fine
Samsung cops $300m price fixing fine
Oct 14, 2005: South Korean chip giant Samsung has agreed to pay a $300 million fine brought on by the US Justice Department after a 3 year antitrust probe into DRAM price fixing.
The case by the DoJ alleges that Samsung conspired with other dynamic random access memory (DRAM) manufacturers such as its rival Hyinx, Germany's Infineon and America's Micron to fix prices from 1999 to 2002.
Infineon last year paid a $160 million fine in relation to the case, whilst Hynix coughed up $185 million earlier this year. Micron on the other had, has managed to escape fines and prosecution by cooperating fully with the ongoing investigation.
According to the DoJ, Samsung conspired with competitors via meetings, conversations and other communications over how to charge certain customers.
"The case demonstrates the need for vigorous antitrust enforcement in high-technology markets" said Thomas Barnett, acting assistant attorney general in charge of the DoJ's antitrust division. "This case also illustrates the worldwide scope of our criminal investigations and exemplifies the need to prosecute and deter cartels that target American businesses and consumers."
As the worldwide leader in DRAM production and as Barnett said: "certainly one of the leaders [of the price fixing scheme]." Samsung has been slapped with the largest fine of the offenders, not to mention the second largest in criminal antitrust fines in US history.
Companies directly affected by the price-fixing scheme include Dell, Compaq, HP, Apple, IBM and Gateway.
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