Samsung to pay $90 million in DRAM case
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(InfoWorld) - Samsung Electronics, the world's largest DRAM (dynamic RAM) maker, agreed to pay $90 million in a DRAM price fixing suit raised by a group of U.S. state governments, the first company named in the suit to reach such an accord. Samsung also agreed to assist the states in resolving price-fixing charges against other defendants named in the suit, the Office of the New York State Attorney General said in a statement on Tuesday. The agreement ends the case against Samsung. TheÂ lawsuit was filed last JulyÂ by New York and 40 other U.S. states in a joint antitrust effort against several DRAM (dynamic RAM) makers over alleged price-fixing, adding to industry woes amid an ongoing federal investigation that has already led to $731 million in fines. They alleged the companies violated antitrust laws and harmed consumers by conspiring to fix prices through artificial supply restraints, dividing markets among themselves and rigging bids on DRAM contracts during a four year period between 1998 and 2002. The price fixing scheme caused computer makers such as Apple and DellÂ to pay more for DRAM than they would have in a competitive market, the suit alleged, and the costs were then passed on to consumers. The Samsung settlement will be used to benefit victims of high DRAM prices, with $80 million going to consumers and other victims, and $10 million being paid out to state and local governments. New York's attorney general said the state's specific share of the settlement will be determined in the future. Samsung's Seoul office declined to comment on the settlement, saying its U.S. subsidiary was handling all issues regarding the case. Hynix Semiconductor, another company named in the suit, said it is too early to tell what impact the Samsung deal may have on the case. "We're still looking into the matter. We haven't decided anything yet," said Kim Ah-Young, a Hynix representative. The accord with Samsung is subject to approval by the federal court in San Francisco. The litigation will continue against other DRAM makers named in the suit, including U.S.-based Micron Technology, Infineon Technologies of Germany, South Korea's Hynix, Japan's Elpida Memory and NEC Electronics America, Taiwan's Mosel Vitelic and Nanya TechnologyÂ as well as their U.S. subsidiaries. The case by the states started after the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation had already led to several guilty pleas, which resulted in millions of dollars in fines and jail time for a dozen individuals from four companies. In late 2005,Â Samsung was ordered to payÂ a $300 million criminal fine in the DOJ case, while South Korean rivalÂ Hynix Semiconductor agreed to payÂ $185 million. Infineon Technologies, of Germany, wasÂ first to pay a fineÂ of $160 million, in late 2004. Earlier last year, Japan'sÂ Elpida Memory agreed to plead guiltyÂ and pay a $84 million fine.
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p2pnet.net News:- Four Infineon Technologies AG executives face jail after pleading guilty to DRAM price fixing charges in what the US Department of Justice says is a, âvery active and far-reaching investigation into antitrust violations in the DRAM
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Samsung Electronics, the world&#39;s top memory chipmaker, said on Thursday its US subsidiary would put aside $100 million in antitrust provisions related to a computer memory chip dispute.
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Samsung Electronics, the worldâs second-largest memory-chip maker, said on Thursday it would make a $100m provision against possible fines in an ongoing US antitrust investigation.
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(InfoWorld) - Anyone looking to add a bit more memory to their computers won a gift from the DRAM (dynamic RAM) industry. Heavy competition has caused prices to tumble and industry analysts predict further price declines. The contract price of the most widely used DRAM chips, 512Mb, DDR2 (double data rate, second generation) chips that run at 667MHz dropped 12.5 percent from two weeks ago to $1.75 each as of Thursday, a new low for this year according to DRAMeXchange Technology, which runs an online trading site for the chips. That's great news for users for three reasons. DRAM price declines increase the likelihood that PC vendors such as Hewlett-Packard and Dell will add more DRAM to the computers they sell, or offer extra DRAM as an incentive; it give users a chance to buy more DRAM on the cheap; and it generallyÂ spurs memory chip makers to move forward on new technologyÂ that will ultimately increase computing performance. Contract DRAM prices for DDR2-667 chips have plunged 70.5 percent so far this year to the Thursday low. The main reason is because memory chip makers built too many new production lines in anticipationÂ of strong demand for Microsoft's Windows Vista, which requires more DRAM per PC, as well as because stronger DRAM prices in general for the past few years was a sign to some that the market had stabilized, analysts say. DRAM prices may continue to decline a bit further, but downside appears limited, according to Gartner. Today's pricing is at a similar level to the lows reached in May of this year, when DRAM makers refused to sell because the price had hit their cash cost. "However, we may see some activity below this level, because some brokers and distributors who are holding inventory may be prepared to sell at a lower price to clear stock," the market researcher said. Over the years, DRAM makers have tended to place more emphasis on winning market share than on profits, and the current DRAM price declines are symptomatic of their battles. Companies have invested so much money in new factories that the increased output has caused a glut, leading to price declines. Prices for DRAM chips fellÂ almost 40 percent in the first half of this year, compared to the first half of 2006, offsetting a 66 percent increase in unit shipments, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association. Contract prices are typically renegotiated between DRAM makers and PC vendors every two weeks. Around four fifths of all DRAM is sold by contract, while the rest is sold on the spot market, just like commodities such as oil and gold. Â
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Germany&#39;s Infineon Technologies AG has agreed to plead guilty to charges of price-fixing and pay a $160 million fine as part of a US investigation into the computer-memory chip industry, US antitrust authorities said Wednesday.
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Samsung Electronics has created an innovative memory chip designed to boost the processing speed in mobile phones for handling digital video and other data-intensive applications.
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(InfoWorld) - Struggling memory chip vendors may see a ray of hope in the near future as prices for DRAMÂ chips stoppedÂ their long slideÂ during the first half of July, according to a report released Tuesday. However, that pause is likely to be brief as DRAM suppliers still have too much inventory in their warehouses, said the report from iSuppli. As vendors like SamsungÂ and Hynix SemiconductorÂ seek extra revenue by selling off those inventories, prices could drop again, said iSuppli analyst Nam Hyung Kim. Therefore, Kim upgraded his rating of the short-term DRAM market only from "negative" to "neutral," saying he is not yet ready to declare a recovery in that sector. Falling DRAM pricesÂ help keep prices low for consumer electronics like PCs, MP3 music players and digital cameras. But it puts big pressure on chip makers to find new revenue. For example, in April Samsung blamed tumbling DRAM prices for helping toÂ push its net profit down 15 percentÂ in the first quarter of 2007, compared to the same period last year. In recent years, some vendors have broken the law in that effort, leading to price-fixing convictions by the U.S. Department of Justice against Samsung and Hynix, as well as their competitors Infineon Technologies, Elpida Memory, and Mitsubishi Electric. Price collusion by DRAM vendors can also harm business computer buyers, according toÂ a lawsuit filed in May against Hynix by Sun. Sun claims the South Korean company inflated prices for its DRAM chips, leading to artificially high prices for Sun servers and storage systems. Some chip vendors are trying to improve their profits by reducing their DRAM production in favor of NAND flash, the memory technology used in popular items like Apple's iPod music players and iPhone smartphone. That transition will help to keep the DRAM market strong in the third quarter of 2007 by avoiding a surplus, Kim said. But even the NAND market will begin to droop in the second half of 2007, as memory manufacturers rush into that sector and force another price decline, he predicted.
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Brian Matus, vice president of market research IC Insights, said $100 million is a mere drop in the bucket for Samsung, but the full extent of the company&#39;s guilt or the fines it might be assessed remain to be seen.
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Samsung Electronics Co., the world&#39;s largest memory chip maker, said yesterday in a regulatory filing that it has set aside $100 million in provisions to deal with a price-fixing investigation in the United States.
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Toshiba Corp. 6502.T said on Friday it   would buy certain chip-related patents from Micron Technology   Inc. MU.N and secure licences for all the patents held by   Micron unit Lexar Media Inc. for $288 million, ending lawsuits   between the Japanese electronics maker and Lexar.
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Growth in chip sales is set to halve next year due to a glut in the market, Korean chipmaker Samsung has warned. The firm said memory chips were in for a slowdown, with prices for flash memory set to fall as much as 40% in the three months to September.
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SEOUL (XFN-ASIA) - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd said that its US unit Samsung Semiconductor Inc has decided to allot 100 mln usd as provision against possible losses that may arise from the US government&#39;s anti-trust investigation into the company.
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Research in Motion settled a lawsuit filed against Samsung Electronics alleging trademark infringement on its hugely popular Blackberry handheld email devices by Samsung's Blackjack cell phones.
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SEOUL (Dow Jones)--A precipitous fall in prices for flash-memory chips and anticipated demand for next-generation DDR2 dynamic random access memory chips has spurred Samsung Electronics Co.
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Cost: $288m Toshiba has settled its rancorous NAND flash memory lawsuit with Lexar, but at a hefty price.â¦
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South Korea's Samsung Electronics said it has developed the world's highest-capacity SRAM (static random access memory) chip for high-performance networking systems.