EU Fines Samsung, Other Memory Makers $403M For Price-Fixing

The European Commission (EC) on Wednesday reached a settlement with Samsung, Infineon, Toshiba and other top memory chip makers accused of operating a cartel to fix prices, fining nine companies a total of $403 million.

"The companies concerned have acknowledged that they coordinated prices," said European Union (EU) Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia, in a statement announcing the settlement.

Samsung, the South Korean technology giant which is the top maker of computer memory chips in the world, was hit with the biggest fine, to the tune of $179 million. Infineon Technologies, the Neubiberg, Germany-based semiconductor company that sells computer memory through its Qimonda subsidiary, was fined $70 million.

The other companies fined by the EC were South Korea’s Hynix Semiconductor, Taiwan-based Nanya and the Japanese memory makers Elpida Memory, Hitachi, Toshiba, Mitsubishi and NEC Electronics.

Authorities said Boise, Idaho-based Micron Technology was the whistle-blower on what the EC described as a price-fixing cartel that operated in Europe from 1998 to 2002.

The EU’s executive body said the overall fine had been reduced by 10 percent after the companies “acknowledged their involvement in the cartel,” according to media reports. In some cases, the EC further reduced certain companies’ fines if they cooperated with the commission’s years-long investigation into price-fixing. Samsung’s fine was actually reduced by 18 percent, while Infineon’s was lowered by 45 percent.

The EC’s investigation followed a similar case against memory chip makers in the U.S. in 2005. Samsung was fined $300 million by the U.S. Justice Department in November, 2005, after pleading guilty to its role in an “international conspiracy” to fix prices for DRAM chips used in computers and other electronics.

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