Attorney General
News Release
June 24, 2010
Attorney General Announces $173 Million Multistate Settlement With Computer Chip Manufacturers
TALLAHASSEE, FL - Attorney General Bill McCollum today announced that a
settlement has been reached in a longstanding antitrust case currently
pending in federal and state courts throughout the United States. The
settlement resolves allegations related to a nationwide conspiracy to fix
the price of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips between 1998 and
2002. Florida, with three other states, has led the investigation since
2004 and was one of the lead states in the settlement negotiations.
Defendants involved in the settlement announced today include Infineon
Technologies AG and Infineon Technologies North America Corp.; Elpida
Memory, Inc. and Elpida Memory (USA) Inc.; NEC Electronics America, Inc.,
presently known as Renesas Electronics America Inc.; Mosel Vitelic Corp.
and Mosel Vitelic, Inc.; Micron Technology, Inc. and Micron Semiconductor
Products, Inc.; and Hynix Semiconductor Inc. and Hynix Semiconductor
America Inc. The agreement, which must be approved by the federal district
court in California, calls for the payment of $173 million by the settling
companies over two years. The timing and amounts of any monetary
distribution to the states will be dependent upon the court's findings once
the settlement is filed with the court.
The settlement also provides for injunctive relief similar to previous
settlements reached with Samsung Semiconductor, Inc.; Samsung Electronics
Company, Ltd; Winbond Electronics Corporation and Winbond Electronics
Corporation America. The sum of all multistate settlements reached in this
case now total over $290 million, which may be the largest settlement ever
of an indirect purchaser antitrust case in the United States.
In July 2006, Florida and 33 other states sued several foreign and domestic
firms that manufacture DRAM chips as a result of their roles in the same
price-fixing scheme. The complaint alleged that the companies were able to
charge higher than competitive prices for DRAM chips as a result of the
scheme, artificially restrained supply, allocated the production and
markets for the chips among themselves and rigged bids for DRAM chip
contracts. The lawsuit sought millions of dollars in damages to private
citizens and governmental agencies that purchased DRAM chips and equipment
that contained the chips. Computer manufacturers affected by the DRAM
price-fixing conspiracy include Apple Computer, Inc., Compaq Computer
Corp., Dell, Inc., Gateway, Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co., and IBM. Florida
consumers and Florida public entities that purchased computers also
absorbed these overcharges.
The multistate lawsuit originated from an investigation that began in 2004,
following a federal criminal probe that exposed a scheme where DRAM
manufacturers profited at the expense of the consumers in the computer and
electronics industry. As part of the federal court case, Samsung, Hynix,
Infineon, Elpida and numerous individual employees pled guilty to federal
criminal price-fixing charges and paid more than $730 million in fines.
TALLAHASSEE, FL - Attorney General Bill McCollum today announced that a
settlement has been reached in a longstanding antitrust case currently
pending in federal and state courts throughout the United States. The
settlement resolves allegations related to a nationwide conspiracy to fix
the price of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips between 1998 and
2002. Florida, with three other states, has led the investigation since
2004 and was one of the lead states in the settlement negotiations.
Defendants involved in the settlement announced today include Infineon
Technologies AG and Infineon Technologies North America Corp.; Elpida
Memory, Inc. and Elpida Memory (USA) Inc.; NEC Electronics America, Inc.,
presently known as Renesas Electronics America Inc.; Mosel Vitelic Corp.
and Mosel Vitelic, Inc.; Micron Technology, Inc. and Micron Semiconductor
Products, Inc.; and Hynix Semiconductor Inc. and Hynix Semiconductor
America Inc. The agreement, which must be approved by the federal district
court in California, calls for the payment of $173 million by the settling
companies over two years. The timing and amounts of any monetary
distribution to the states will be dependent upon the court's findings once
the settlement is filed with the court.
The settlement also provides for injunctive relief similar to previous
settlements reached with Samsung Semiconductor, Inc.; Samsung Electronics
Company, Ltd; Winbond Electronics Corporation and Winbond Electronics
Corporation America. The sum of all multistate settlements reached in this
case now total over $290 million, which may be the largest settlement ever
of an indirect purchaser antitrust case in the United States.
In July 2006, Florida and 33 other states sued several foreign and domestic
firms that manufacture DRAM chips as a result of their roles in the same
price-fixing scheme. The complaint alleged that the companies were able to
charge higher than competitive prices for DRAM chips as a result of the
scheme, artificially restrained supply, allocated the production and
markets for the chips among themselves and rigged bids for DRAM chip
contracts. The lawsuit sought millions of dollars in damages to private
citizens and governmental agencies that purchased DRAM chips and equipment
that contained the chips. Computer manufacturers affected by the DRAM
price-fixing conspiracy include Apple Computer, Inc., Compaq Computer
Corp., Dell, Inc., Gateway, Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co., and IBM. Florida
consumers and Florida public entities that purchased computers also
absorbed these overcharges.
The multistate lawsuit originated from an investigation that began in 2004,
following a federal criminal probe that exposed a scheme where DRAM
manufacturers profited at the expense of the consumers in the computer and
electronics industry. As part of the federal court case, Samsung, Hynix,
Infineon, Elpida and numerous individual employees pled guilty to federal
criminal price-fixing charges and paid more than $730 million in fines.
