With their profit margin already squeezed, South Korean flat-screen makers LG.Philips LCD Co and Samsung Electronic Co are being probed by trade watchdogs from Japan, the US and South Korea over possible price-fixing collusion, newspaper reports said yesterday.
South Korean newspapers reported that Japan's Fair Trade Commission, South Korea's Fair Trade Commission (FTC) and the US Department of Justice began a joint investigation into Samsung to determine whether they violated fair trade rules.
Both Samsung and LG.Philips -- the top two manufacturers of liquid-crystal display (LCD) panels used for both flat-screen TV sets and PC monitors -- said they will cooperate with the investigation.
An official at the FTC confirmed that the probe was underway, with close cooperation among the trade watchdogs in Japan, South Korea and the US to secure the data necessary for the investigation, which could take two months.
Their rivals in Taiwan -- including AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美電子) and Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd (中華映管) -- have jumped into the market, making it hard for Samsung and LG.Philips to continue their lucrative business.
Experts predict that if the watchdogs found them guilty of collusion sometime after the second quarter next year, both would pay a price in the form of huge penalties and flagging credibility.
LG.Philips is forecast to be harder hit than Samsung if the watchdogs enforce penalties.
Shares in LG.Philips fell to a record low yesterday, declining 4.3 percent to close at 25,850 won in Seoul. Samsung ended 0.7 percent lower at 600,000 won.
In Taiwan, AU Optronics, the world's third-largest flat panel maker, said yesterday in a statement that it planned to cooperate with investigators in anti-competition probes into global panel makers by the US and Japanese fair trade watchdogs.
Officials at Chi Mei also said its wholly owned US unit, IDTech Co, would collaborate with US authorities during the investigation.
additional reporting by Lisa Wang
Cairo’s new monorail slices across the city skyline, running above the familiar chaos of blaring horns and aging buses’ exhaust fumes that mark rush hour below. The US$4.5 billion monorail, opened this month, is among Egypt’s most prominent new transport projects, part of a debt-funded infrastructure drive criticized for sapping state finances while bringing limited benefits to most of the country’s 109 million people. “It feels like you’re in a different country,” said Ramy Sayed, a restaurant manager, aboard a driverless Innovia 300 train. “No noise, no traffic, we’re not used to this.” The eastern line runs 56km from the bustling middle-class
Starlux Airlines Co (星宇航空) today unveiled a long-haul network expansion plan at a shareholders’ meeting in Taipei, including direct flights to Barcelona, Spain, and Zurich, Switzerland, as well as a service connecting Taipei, Sydney and New Zealand. Starlux is to become the first Taiwanese carrier to offer non-stop services to the two European cities, while the inaugural oceanic route is expected to expand transit opportunities within the Australia-New Zealand market, Starlux said. Flight services to Chicago, Dallas, Washington and New York are under evaluation, the airline added. Prior to the shareholders’ meeting, the airline earlier this year announced that it would be
Taiwanese firms have increased investment in the Philippines in recent years as Manila’s ties with Washington deepen and global supply chains continue to shift away from China, an expert at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The Philippines had not been among Taiwanese investors’ top choices in Southeast Asia, CIER Taiwan ASEAN Studies Center director Kristy Hsu (徐遵慈) said at a seminar in Taipei. However, Taiwan’s investment in the country has grown significantly since the COVID-19 pandemic, reaching US $257 million last year, a high in recent years, she said. Although Taiwan’s total investment in the Philippines still lags
Intel Corp regards Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) as a longstanding partner, as the US chipmaker would continue outsourcing production of advanced chips to TSMC, Intel chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) said yesterday. “I don’t look at people as competitors. I look at the collaboration... Nvidia is also, you know, a good friend,” Tan told a news conference following his keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taipei. “It’s a very trusted partnership for us... We are a big, top customer for them, and we’re going to continue doing that,” he said, referring to TSMC, the world’s largest foundry
RSS