Four top executives from the South Korean Hynix have in America debt known for artificially inflating DRAM prices between 1999 and 2002. Messrs. Kim, Chung, Suh and Choi, who have agreed to cooperate with the judicial investigation, will jointly pay a $1 million fine and each between five and eight spend months in jail. Hynix, the second largest memory producer in the world after Samsung, had already agreed in 2005 to a fine of USD 185 million. “We hope that this example will deter other businessmen from forming cartels,” a spokesman for the US Attorney’s Office said. The four are said to remain employed by Hynix.
Samsung, which was also sued, had to admit its involvement buy with a $300 million fine. The two other companies that have the American eye on them are Elpida and the European Infineon. Elpida paid $ 84 million, while Infineon more or less suffered the same fate as Hynix: that company also saw four employees disappear behind bars. In addition, Infineon paid a $160 million fine in 2004, bringing the amount of fines collected to more than $731 million. Micron, which was also investigated, claims to date that it is innocent, although some employees are said to have been ‘involved’ in the price fixing. Despite an agreement with the Public Prosecution Service, however, the company will still have to defend itself in court: last week it was announced that Micron had been sued because the company bore ‘significantly more responsibility’ for the price agreements than it has so far been willing to admit.