January 10, 2007 – Micron Technology Inc. says it has reached a settlement agreement with a group of direct purchasers of certain DRAM products, with the total payment not to exceed $80 million. The company says the deal dismisses it from a class-action suit stemming from guilty verdicts against price-fixing charges in the DRAM market.
The US DOJ charged four DRAM firms — Samsung, Elpida, Hynix, and Infineon — in a price-fixing investigation concerning the period from April 1999-June 2002, with fines totaling more than $700 million, and several execs receiving jail time. Micron was shielded from investigation by cooperating early with authorities.
The settlement charge will be applied to reduce Micron’s 1Q07. The company indicated that despite the settlement, it still is a defendant in several cases filed on behalf of indirect purchasers of DRAM, and on behalf of various individual states.