Rambus (RMBS)

[Rich1]

Oops here it is...<gg>


Hynix Execs Agree to Fines, Jail...WSJ


Hynix Executives Agree to Fines,
Jail Time in Price-Fixing Case
By DON CLARK and SIOBHAN HUGHES
March 2, 2006
Four executives from Hynix Semiconductor Inc., the second-largest semiconductor maker in South Korea, agreed to serve jail time and pay fines for conspiring to fix memory-chip prices, the latest fallout from a U.S. antitrust investigation.
The executives, all from South Korea, agreed to plead guilty to criminal antitrust charges and serve jail time in the U.S., the Justice Department said. They also will pay fines of $250,000 each.
A Justice Department investigation found that a multicompany cartel propped up the price of widely used chips known as dynamic random access memory, or DRAM, chips between April 1999 and June 2002. In all, four companies and nine individuals have been charged and fines totaling more than $731 million have resulted from the investigation.
Hynix agreed in April to plead guilty and to pay a fine of $185 million. Samsung Electronics Co., the biggest chip maker in South Korea, agreed to pay $300 million, the largest fine in the case so far. Infineon Technologies AG of Germany paid a $160 million fine. Micron Technology Inc., Boise, Idaho, agreed to provide evidence as part of a government amnesty program.
The companies involved in the investigation also face private antitrust suits.
The Justice Department identified the Hynix executives as D.S. Kim, general manager of world-wide sales and marketing, who will serve eight months; C.K. Chung, director of global strategic account sales, who will serve seven months; K.C. Suh, senior manager of memory-product marketing, who will serve six months; and C.Y. Choi, general manager for marketing and sales support at Hynix's German subsidiary, who will serve five months.
Attorneys for Messrs. Kim and Choi declined to comment. Attorneys for Mr. Suh and Mr. Chung couldn't be reached.
The government case has affected an antitrust suit filed by Rambus Inc. The Los Altos, Calif., company, which makes technology for memory chips, hopes to use documents obtained by the Justice Department to support its claims that Hynix, Micron and Samsung conspired to boycott Rambus.
The companies deny the claims.
After the announcement of the guilty pleas, Rambus shares rose nearly 6%. In 4 p.m. composite trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market, Rambus shares gained $1.79, or 5.8%, to $32.84.
John Danforth, Rambus's general counsel, said investors may be reacting to the possibility that the Hynix executives could become witnesses that could help the Rambus case.

Now the question is this story in the full run edition of WSJ??