The European Commission announced Wednesday that several major technology companies have been fined millions of dollars for their participation in fixing the prices of chips used in bank cards and mobile phones.
According to a press release offered by the regulator, Samsung Electronics, Royal Philips and Infineon Technologies were ordered to pay a combined $181.3 million for the collusion. Infineon was ordered to pay the highest fine of the three companies at more than $108 million.
The sanctions follow first discussions for the companies to settle the allegations in 2012. Those talks eventually broke down. Renesas Technology, which was also found to have taken part in the price-fixing cartel, qualified for leniency after first approaching the EU with information about the anticompetitive behavior, the Commission said.
The Companies “colluded through a network of bilateral contacts in order to determine their respective responses to customers’ requests to lower prices,” the watchdog said. European Commissioner Joaquin Almunia added in a statement that some of the companies “took measures to conceal the collusion.”
The fines bring Almunia’s tally of price-fixing fines up to more than $2 billion this year; his term is set to end in less than two months.
Infineon said it plans to appeal the decision.
Full content: Bloomberg
Want more news? Subscribe to CPI’s free daily newsletter for more headlines and updates on antitrust developments around the world.
Featured News
DirecTV and Disney Resolve Dispute, Restore Programming for Subscribers
Sep 15, 2024 by
CPI
UK Antitrust Authority Raises Concerns Over Vodafone-Three Merger
Sep 15, 2024 by
CPI
Brazilian Supreme Court Lifts Freeze on Starlink Accounts, Transfers $3.3 Million to National Treasury
Sep 15, 2024 by
CPI
Steptoe Expands Antitrust Practice with Key London Hire
Sep 15, 2024 by
CPI
Instant Ad Auctions at the Heart of Google’s Federal Monopoly Case
Sep 15, 2024 by
CPI
Antitrust Mix by CPI
Antitrust Chronicle® – Canada & Mexico
Sep 3, 2024 by
CPI
Competitive Convergence: Mexico’s 30-Year Quest for Antitrust Parity with its Northern Neighbor
Sep 3, 2024 by
Francisco Javier Núñez Melgoza
Competition and Digital Markets in North America: A Comparative Study of Antitrust Investigations in Mexico and the United States
Sep 3, 2024 by
Julio Garcia
Recent Antitrust Development in Mexico: COFECE’s Preliminary Report on Amazon and Mercado Libre
Sep 3, 2024 by
Alejandra Palacios Prieto
The Cost of Making COFECE Disappear
Sep 3, 2024 by
Mateo Fernández