Five Asian chipmakers in collusion probe


Five Asian companies are involved in the probe, which is scrutinizing possible collusion on pricing

By Alex Frew McMillan and wire reports

HONG KONG, China -- Asian memory-chip companies made it clear Thursday that a U.S. antitrust investigation is broader than first realized.

Taiwan's largest memory foundries Winbond Electronics and Nanya Technologies confirmed they had received subpoenas from U.S. authorities.

Japan-based Elpida Memory also said its U.S. sales division had received a subpoena in the probe.

Elpida is a joint venture of NEC and Hitachi and is the largest maker of DRAM, or dynamic random access memory, chips in Japan.

At least seven now in probe

That brings the total number of Asian chipmakers under investigation to at least five.


It's unclear what U.S. authorities are investigating, after Japanese companies alleged Korean competitors dumped chips

South Korea-based Samsung Electronics, the world memory chip leader, and Hynix Semiconductor, the world No. 3, had already been identified as part of the probe.

Elpida ranks fifth in the world behind Samsung, U.S.-based Micron Technology, Hynix and Germany's Infineon. All four of those companies are part of the probe.

Hynix Semiconductor confirmed to CNN on Thursday that its U.S. unit had received a subpoena from the U.S. Department of Justice on possible collusion on chip pricing. But the troubled chipmaker stated that its Korean operations are not involved or implicated.

The Seoul-based company said its U.S. division denies violating antitrust laws. A spokesman in Korea said the company is cooperating with U.S. authorities and the investigation.

Nanya cooperating with investigation

That matched the tone from Nanya Technologies, which said it had been contacted by antitrust officials and a California district court.

"We will fully cooperate with the judicial department's investigation," it stated in a release.

The probe revolves around collusion on pricing. But it is as yet unclear what type of antitrust action the Justice Department is investigating.

Chip prices rose rapidly at the start of 2002, after the worst year in the industry's history. That led to speculation that the jump was rigged, with computer executives such as Dell Computer CEO Michael Dell suggesting a cartel may have been at work.

But Japan's chipmakers had been mulling an antidumping charge against their Korean competitors, alleging companies such as Samsung and Hynix were deliberately offloading cheap chips to undermine competitors.

Stocks resist selling pressure

The suit did not go ahead. Japanese chip companies such as Toshiba have been selling out of DRAM production.

Toshiba is now in talks with Fujitsu on a possible combination of their chip operations (full story). NEC is spinning off its chip business altogether, and Hitachi and Mitsubishi Electronics are planning to combine their operations (full story).

Stocks in Asia rebounded on Thursday afternoon, with Japan's tech-driven Nikkei index rising 1.31 percent to 10,612.98 at the close.

In Taipei, Nanya closed down 2.61 percent at T$33.60. Winbond finished off 0.97 percent at T$20.50. But the Taiex staged a dramatic rebound to rise 0.86 percent on the day.

Samsung Electronics ended down 2.2 percent at 341,000 won. Hynix ended flat at 290 won. The Kospi shook off that downdraft to close 0.06 percent higher.