Samsung price-fixing
Posted: December 1, 2005, 1:29 pm
http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/biztech/12 ... index.html
I thought many would find this story interesting. Back in 04 I thought i noticed something unusual when 512sticks in best buy costed 170, when I could find almost identical memory online for 80.SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- The price of memory chips began to climb in 2001, even though the tech industry was suffering its worst downturn in history. The CEO of Dell blamed the high chip prices on cartel-like behavior.
Prosecutors agreed, and the world's largest maker of computer memory chips -- Samsung -- pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiring to fix the price of the chips used in personal computers and other electronic devices.
Price fixing in the dynamic random access memory market led to higher prices of some personal computers.
Under a previously arranged deal, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and its U.S. subsidiary, Samsung Semiconductor Inc., were ordered to pay $300 million -- the second-largest fine in a criminal antitrust case.