Watchdog clears chipmakers of price-fixing charges

Watchdog clears chipmakers of price-fixing charges
SEOUL, April 20 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's antitrust watchdog said Monday it has
cleared 10 semiconductor companies of allegations of price fixing as it failed to
find evidence against them.
The ruling by the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) comes after an investigation
started in October 2006 into the companies including Samsung Electronics Co. and
Hynix Semiconductor Inc. amid allegations that they had conspired to rig prices
for static random access memory (SDRAM) products.
The FTC said that it hasn't found any evidence that prove that the SDRAM makers
engaged in rigging prices against customers in the domestic market.
Two U.S. and six Japanese makers including Toshiba and Cypress Semiconductor
Corp. were also among the companies cleared of the allegations.
Currently, South Korea's Samsung Electronics and Hynix Semiconductor command
around 90 percent of the domestic market of SDRAMs mostly used in mobile phones
and computers, market experts say.
kokobj@yna.co.kr
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