Toshiba, 2 Other Flash Memory Suppliers Under U.S. Antitrust Probe

New York, Sept. 14 (Jiji Press)–The U.S. Department of Justice has begun a probe into Japan’s Toshiba Corp. , SanDisk Corp. of the United States and Samsung Electronics Co. of South Korea over possible antitrust practices in the NAND flash memory chip market.

SanDisk said in a document submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it has received a grand-jury subpoena from federal district court in California regarding the probe.

According several U.S. media organizations, Toshiba and Samsung have also received similar subpoenas.

The prices of NAND flash memory chips, used in digital cameras and music players such as Apple Inc.’s iPod, are on an uptrend on the back of surging demand.

The latest probes are part of the Justice Department’s recent effort to stamp out antitrust practices in the chip industry.

Elpida Memory Inc. and Samsung, among others, have paid penalties to the U.S. government for fixing prices for dynamic random access memory, or DRAM, chips.

Toshiba, Sony Corp. and Mitsubishi Electric Corp. have been subject to the Justice Department’s antitrust probes in the market for static random access memory, or SRAM, chips, which are widely used for mobile phones and other digital appliances.END

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