EU regulators fine Infineon, Samsung, Philips 138 million euros
European Union antitrust regulators fined Philips, Samsung Electronics and Infineon Technologies a total of 138 million euros ($181.28 million) on Wednesday for fixing prices of chips used in mobile SIM cards.
The European Commission, which raided the companies in October 2008, said the cartel took place between 2003 and 2005, with the companies also colluding on customers, production capacity and future market conduct.
Infineon received the biggest penalty at 82.8 million euros. Samsung was fined 35.12 million euros and Philips 20.15 million euros.
Renesas Technology, a joint venture between Hitachi Ltd and Mitsubishi Electric that was acquired by Renesas Electronics Corp in 2010, escaped a fine of more than 51 million euros as it was the first to alert the EU competition authority about the cartel.
The chips produced by the companies are also used in bank cards, identity cards, passports and pay TV cards. The companies had sought to settle the case in return for a 10 percent cut in the fines but talks subsequently broke down.
Source: Reuters
