"The European Commission can confirm that on 11 October 2005
Commission officials carried out unannounced inspections at the
premises of several SRAM producers in Germany," said a Commission
statement. SRAM is static random access memory, a kind of memory
that operates more quickly than dynamic RAM, or DRAM.
"The Commission has reason to believe that the companies
concerned may have violated Article 81 of the EC Treaty, which
prohibits practices such as price fixing," said the Commission.
The companies involved have not been named, in keeping with the
Commission's policy, but Advanced Micro Devices told Reuters that
it was not one of the raided companies.
The Department of Justice has begun its own investigation into
the SRAM market. Sony has said that it has been subpoenaed to
provide information about its SRAM activity, as has Cypress
Semiconductor.
A US investigation previously found significant price fixing
activity in the DRAM market. A dozen individuals have been charged
as a result of the investigation and fines totalling $731 million
have been levied against Elpida Memory, Infineon Technologies,
Samsung Electronics and Hynix Semiconductor.
"Surprise inspections are a preliminary step in investigations
into suspected cartels. The fact that the European Commission
carries out such inspections does not mean that the companies are
guilty of anti-competitive behaviour," said the Commission. "There
is no strict deadline to complete cartel inquiries. Their duration
depends on a number of factors, including the complexity of each
case, the extent to which the undertakings concerned co-operate and
the exercise of the rights of defence."
The Commission is already investigating competitive practices in
the microprocessor market following claims by AMD that Intel has
abused its dominant market position. A German case was subsumed
into the Commission investigation in September.
