The Korea Fair Trade Commission said on the 8th that semiconductor corporations NXP Semiconductors and ADI were referred to the commission's review on suspicion of restricting customers and margin rates for semiconductor distributors.
The Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) found that NXP Semiconductors is suspected of restricting distributors' customers. When a specific distributor in a transaction with the company secures a customer, the company granted an "exclusive distribution right" so that other distributors could not transact with that customer. The commission also found that the margin rates distributors could secure were set in advance during this process.
ADI is suspected of having fixed in advance the margin rates that distributors in a transaction with the company could secure, while at the same time designating and enforcing the distributors' resale prices.
The Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) found that NXP's suspected conduct violated Article 45(1)7 (restricting trading partners) and Article 45(1)6 (management interference) of the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act. It determined that ADI's suspected conduct violated Article 45(1)6 (management interference) and Article 46 (resale price maintenance), among others.
The Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) estimates the related sales of NXP and ADI to be $880 million (about 1.3 trillion won) and $660 million (about 1 trillion won), respectively. After deliberation, the commission may impose a penalty surcharge of up to 4% of the related sales affected by each violation by each respondent under the relevant laws.