MUNICH -- In the latest major event in the DRAM industry, Infineon Technologies AG here on Thursday filed a suit against South Korean rivals Samsung Electronics Co. and Hynix Semiconductor Inc., accusing them of receiving government subsidies to help them compete in the marketplace, according to the German chip maker.
The complaint, filed in the European Union's Executive Commission, claims that the alleged government subsidies allows Samsung and Hynix to lower prices of their DRAMs exported to Europe, according to a spokesman for Infineon in Munich on Friday.
"It's not fair," according to the spokesman. "We are looking for tariffs on Korean-made memory chips," the spokesman told SBN.
Infineon asked the EU Commission to slap penalty tariffs on South Korean memory chips. Both Samsung and Hynix denied that they have received government subsidies, according to reports.
Today, however, the EU said that it was not investigating Infineon's complaint--yet, according to a report from the Reuters news service. An EU spokesman declined to comment directly on whether a complaint had been made to the EU over unfair practices in the industry, according to the report.
Meanwhile, the suit follows another major event in the memory market. Amid a sudden drop in memory prices, the U.S. Department of Justice here has widened its investigation over alleged "anticompetitive practices" among leading DRAM makers. The government agency is investigating Epida, Hynix, Infineon, Micron, Nanya, Samsung, Winbond, and other DRAM makers (see June 20 story ).
Infineon confirmed it has received a subpoenas from the U.S. Department of Justice, which was investigating alleged anticompetitive practices among makers of computer memory chips.
"We, of course, will cooperate with officials in Washington," according to the spokesman for Infineon.
