Infineon To Pay $160 Million For Fixing RAM Prices

Jerrod K writes "Infineon Technologies pleaded guilty to charges of price fixing in an international conspiracy. The Justice Department said this is the third largest antitrust settlement ever. Other memory chip makers involved include Hynix, Samsung, and Micron Technology." Reader phalse phace adds a link to CNET's coverage.

The $160 million dollar tax question...

[garcia]

The real question is do they get to give away a bunch of 256k chips to schools as a tax credit?

Odd Concept

[Timber_Z]

I recall that things got pretty bad for awhile, but I still have a hard time with the concept of price fixing, when I clearly remember paying $150 for 8MB of ram, and how good of a deal that was.

Oh well

[JLSigman]

Guess we won't be getting our $13.50 checks. :-p

Geesh, I'm in the business of fixing things...

[Anonymous Coward]

I guess I won't be fixing things that are broken anymore. My mum has a broken dishwasher that I was going to fix this weekend, but if I can be fined millions for fixing things, I don't want to accept that risk.
I guess my mum will have to do the dishes manually. Oh well.

Re:And just how do I benefit?

[xsupergr0verx]

Maybe it's like the RIAA settlement.

Each lawyer gets a new yacht, and we get a check for $4 in the mail.

My Head Just Exploded

[mattgarnsey]

From the article (condensed for brevity):

Infineon Technologies announced today that it has plead guilty to a single and limited charge related to the violation of US antitrust laws in connection with the pricing in its Dynamic Random Access Memory.

Infineon strongly condemns any attempt to fix or stabilize prices. Infineon is committed to vigorous and fair competition based solely on superior products and services.

Sounds to me like Crucialcould do this cheaper

[IronChefMorimoto]

They paid over $150 million for fixing RAM prices? [wink wink]

Damn. I would've thought a Crucial.com web programmer or database technician could've done that pretty easily by having each stick of RAM on the website subtract, say, $20 - $30.

That's what? $22.50 for the hour spent making the change? Hell -- even cheaper if Crucial.com outsources its website/database operations to Bangalore.

IronChefMorimoto

No, That's Impossible

[srwalter]

Every good slashdotter should realize that this is impossible. Theregister must just be trying to pull one over on us. I mean, clearly the Bush Administration is in the pocket of Corporations, and would never allow this to happen to big business. Obviously, the story is a farce.

hope we get ram. some type of certificate

[beefcake101]

How do I benefit? hope we get ram instead of like a $5 check . i could always use more ram . hope something like bring this in to get your free 256 stick or 512 stick

Re:And just how do I benefit?

[strictfoo]

there's added incintive for the companies to NOT DO THIS SORT OF THING now, the society as a whole benefits and that is how you get the benefit.

Yes, these wonderful lawyers who are doing this for the little people like you and me. The fact that they're making millions of dollars is inconsequential to them.

I mean, look at the music industry! They've definitely changed their ways now that 20 different lawyer firms have made millions off of them and we've all gotten $2.85 checks in the mail.

Re:And just how do I benefit?

[geeklawyer]

Each lawyer gets a new yacht, and we get a check for $4 in the mail.

I must be missing the joke. Why is it bad I get a yacht?

Re:Odd Concept

[arose]

640 milibits?

Re:Sweet.

[ranolen]

Does that mean I can upgrade my RAM for less than the cost of a new processor now?

Nope, now infinion will have to make their money back that they have just lost, so expect a sharp rise in the price.

Re:Odd Concept

[arose]

kilobits? :-D

Re:The $160 million dollar tax question...

[xsupergr0verx]

As if there's anyone who doesn't need more memory.

Of course they don't. 640k should be enough for anybody.

Re:No, That's Impossible

[drinkypoo]

That guy was a wanker. Everyone knows if you want credibility you have to complain about Halliburton. :)

Re:Fine line between "dumping" and fixing

[Anonymous Coward]

I really hope that you're from England.

Or, more correctly, from anywhere in the world except the USA.

The Queen's English is what we damn foreigners are taught, not some awkward dialect from the transatlantic colonies.