Hynix Semiconductor Inc yesterday distanced itself from a price-fixing scandal in the US, saying a decision by its executives there to plead guilty to inflating chip prices is a "personal issue."
Four executives from the South Korean microchip maker agreed on Wednesday to plead guilty for their role in a conspiracy to raise the price of computer memory chips during 1999 to 2002, the US Justice Department said.
The executives agreed to pay fines of US$250,000 each, assist in further prosecutions and serve jail terms, which range from five months to eight months.
The plea agreements are a "personal issue," said James Kim, head of investor and public relations at Hynix in Seoul.
The company "has nothing to do with this situation, exactly for this case," Kim said, adding that Hynix may soon issue a statement.
It's the latest development in a long-running US Justice Department investigation that has so far led to guilty pleas from four chip companies -- Hynix, Samsung Electronics Co, Elpida Memory Inc and Infineon Technologies AG -- and fines totaling more than US$731 million.
The Hynix executives who agreed to plead guilty have been identified as D.S. Kim, general manager of worldwide sales and marketing; C.K. Chung, director of global strategic account sales; K.C. Suh, senior manager for memory product marketing; and C.Y. Choi, general manager of marketing and sales support.
The case has already seen guilty pleas from four Infineon executives, who served jail terms ranging from four to six months and paid fines of US$250,000 each.
A sales manager for Micron Technology Inc also pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice for withholding and altering documents related to the investigation.
Prosecutors say the conspiracy drove up the price of dynamic random access memory, or DRAM, chips, which are the most commonly used product for storing and retrieving information in computers and a variety of electronic devices.
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