SEOUL -- Samsung has agreed to pay $90 million for its role in fixing prices on DRAM devices. Samsung was among several chipmakers under federal investigation for allegedly colluding on DRAM pricing.
More than $730 million in fines have been levied and four companies -- Samsung, Elpida Memory, Infineon
and Hynix -- have pled guilty.
A federal case
continues against
Infineon, Elpida and
Hynix, plus
Micron
Technology, Mosel-Vitelic, Nanya Technology and
NEC.
Of the Samsung settlement, a reported $80 million will go to consumers and $10 million to states and local governments.
The settlement also includes numerous private class-action suits and is
subject to approval in federal court in San Francisco.
New York,
California and Illinois were the lead plaintiffs in the case, which
grew out of a 2002 Justice Department investigation that turned up
evidence of artificially supported prices by handful of big companies.