Samsung to Pay $90 Million in Chip Price Case
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The worldâs largest maker of memory chips settled civil charges that it conspired with six other makers of computer chips to fix prices.
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Samsung Electronics Co. on Monday joined competitors in the consumer electronics memory chip industry under a growing cloud of private litigation and U.S. and Canadian government investigations.
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South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co., the world's largest memory chipmaker, said it would invest some 24 billion dollars in building new chip production lines over the next six years.
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Samsung Electronics has developed a chip-manufacturing technique able to significantly increase the amount of music, pictures, videos, and other data people can store in future iPods, iPhones, and other devices.The world&#39;s largest memory chip maker showed off a 64Gb multilevel cell (MLC) NAND flash memory chip made with an entirely new 30-nanometer production technology. A nanometer is a billionth of a meter, and the measure refers to the average size of the smallest features on the chip. The manufacturing breakthrough, which Samsung calls self-aligned double patterning technology (SaDPT), will enable the company to greatly increase the storage capacity of new NAND flash memory chips once the technology is in commercial production.For example, 16 of the 64Gb chips can be combined in a memory card for 128GB of storage space, enough for 80 DVD movies or 32,000 MP3 music files, the company said in a statement.Even more important for users, Samsung was able to make the technology leap without requiring certain expensive new chip making equipment. While moves to smaller production technologies often require investment in expensive new photolithography equipment, the company was able to use current photolithography gear to etch circuits on the silicon wafers. That should ensure low production costs and reasonable prices for end-users.SaDPT technology uses two pattern transfers to create the circuit design of each chip. The first transfer spaces the circuits widely apart, then the second transfer uses that space between the circuits to add another circuit, with the result that the circuitry is more densely packed together.Samsung has applied for 30 patents related to the new 64Gb flash chip, and said it also created a 32Gb chip with the same production technology. The company expects to begin mass production of 64Gb flash chips with its 30nm manufacturing technology in 2009.
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Samsung Group must pay part of a massive debt it owes from a failed car making venture, a court rules.
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Qualcomm and Samsung Investment VentureÂ have each invested $8 million in Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment Co. (AMEC), a Chinese company that plans to develop and sell equipment used to manufacture semiconductors.
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Ongoing antitrust investigation, possibly regarding price fixing, extends to Advanced Micro Devices.
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LONDON, December 6  - The South Korean memory chipmaker, Samsung Electronics Company (SSUN.FSE), said today that it intends to invest approximately 25 trillion won ($24 billion; Â£12.36 billion) in building new chip production lines in
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By Bob Mims, The Salt Lake Tribune  Feb. 8--Samsung will pay $90 million to settle a lawsuit filed by 50  states, including Utah, over the alleged fixing of prices for computer memory  chips.   The bulk of the settlement, $80 million, goes directly to consumers.
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(InfoWorld) - An investigation into possible anticompetitive behavior in the flat-panel display market widened Tuesday, with four more big vendors saying they had been contacted by investigators. Samsung ElectronicsÂ said it had been served with subpoenas by regulators in the U.S., South Korea, and Japan, while Sharp and Taiwan's AU Optronics were contacted by the Japan Fair Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), they said. Taiwan's Chi Mei Optoelectronics said a subsidiary in the U.S. was also contacted by the DOJ. The investigation came to light Monday when LG.Philips LCD Co.Â revealed that it had been subpoenaedÂ by regulators in the U.S., South Korea, and Japan. The probe centers on TFT (thin-film transistor) LCDs, according to Samsung. They are used in a wide range of electronics products including flat-panel televisions and computer monitors, laptop computers, cell phones, and digital music players. The three companies being investigated are among the largest manufacturers of such displays. The investigation comes on the heels of anticompetition probes in the DRAM (dynamic RAM) andÂ SRAM (static RAM) markets. The DRAM investigationÂ focussed on price-fixing, which is when vendors cooperate to set prices artificially. Sharp Spokeswoman Miyuki Nakayama said the company was surprised to have received the summons. Sharp has a policy of "fair and ethical management," she said. Cho Sung In, a spokeswoman for Samsung in Seoul, said: "Samsung Electronics is strongly committed to fair competition and ethical practices and forbids anti-competitive behavior." Among other LCD manufacturers, Sony said its joint-venture with Samsung, S-LCD, had not been contacted by the investigators. Shares in LG.Philips dropped 4 percent Tuesday, while Samsung's closed down two-thirds of a percent. The general market, as measured by the Kospi index, fell 1 percent. Sharp waited until after the market had closed to announce it had been contacted. Its shares rose 2 percent Tuesday. In the DRAM investigation, Market leaders Samsung andÂ Hynix Semiconductor pled guiltyÂ in 2005 to price-fixing and receivedÂ fines of $300 millionÂ and $185 million, respectively. Japan'sÂ Elpida Memory had to pay $84 millionÂ and Germany'sÂ Infineon Technologies paid a $160 million fine. In October several manufacturers of SRAM chips said they had been subpoenaed by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) although they did not disclose the nature of the DOJ's requests. The companies were Cypress Semiconductor and the U.S. units of Mitsubishi Electric, Samsung Electronics, Sony, and Toshiba. Â ADVERTISEMENTNEW IT SERVICES FROM IBM: EASIER TO BUY AND IMPLEMENTDiscover a simpler, more cost-effective way to get the solutions your company needs to grow more flexible and efficient.
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Cashback Sun and Unisys are going after South Korean memory chip maker Hynix for damages related to its role in a price-fixing cartel.â¦
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SEOUL Hynix Semiconductor, the world&#39;s second-largest maker of computer memory chips, was responsible in 1999 for accounting violations involving 2 trillion won, or $1.
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Samsung Electronics is planning to begin construction of a Line 7-2 at its fabrication facility in Tanjeong, Korea. Samsung will make a US$273 million investment in order to start off the construction of the building for the new line.
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WASHINGTON -- German chipmaker Infineon (Quote, Chart) has agreed to plead guilty and pay a $160 million fine for participating in what the Department of Justice (DOJ) calls an international price-fixing conspiracy in the memory chip market.
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German computer chipmaker Infineon Technologies AG has agreed to plead guilty to price fixing and will pay a $160 million fine, the Justice Department announced yesterday.
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Global computer memory chip  makers including Samsung Electronics Co. and Micron Technology  Inc. were sued on Thursday by New York Attorney General Eliot  Spitzer for allegedly conspiring to raise memory chip prices.
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Intel Corp., the world's largest semiconductor company, was charged with violating South Korean antitrust laws, the company and regulators said Tuesday.