EU squashes chipmaker cartel, fines could reach $381 million

[Matthew DeCarlo]

European Union regulators are cracking down on a number of chipmakers for price fixing. Sources close to the situation name nine memory chip manufacturers in the case including Samsung, NEC, Hitachi, Toshiba, Mitsubishi, Hynix, Infineon, Nanya, and Elpida. Micron – who you probably know by the brand Crucial – exposed the cartel and thus will not be fined for its involvement.

The EU is expected to announce a decision on the fines Wednesday with penalties as high as €300 million ($381 million). That sum may have been higher without the help of a settlement procedure introduced by the European Commission in 2008, which grants companies to a 10% reduction in fines if they admit to collusion. The commission can fine companies up to 10% of their global turnover for violating EU laws.

This news comes after US and South Korean antitrust regulators closed investigations of the flash memory industry last year, finding no evidence of a pricing cartel. In 2007, South Korean official also dropped a price-fixing investigation involving Samsung, Micron, Infineon, and Hynix.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/38999-eu-squashes-chipmaker-cartel-fines-could-reach-381-million.html

 

[Guest]

That's just about it, I'm going to sue and fine the EU.

 

[Armanian]

Wow this guest doesn't understand anything...

 

[Tomorrow_Rains]

He/she Doesnt lmao!!!

 

[aaron86]

Thats one way to solve their debt crisis

That's one way to solve their debt crisis; suing the pants off of non-European companies.

Actually, for once I support the EU in a law suite. If these companies were price fixing then fine the **** out of them, because it hurts all of us as consumers and decreases the drive for innovation. I'm kind of sad the American judicial system couldn't find the proof of price fixing, our government could have used that money for our own debt