Prosecutors raided the Korea offices of three global semiconductor corporations that count Samsung Electronics(005930) and SK hynix(000660) as clients, to check allegations that they colluded on component prices.
On the 15th, according to legal sources, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office's Fair Trade Investigation Division (headed by Director General Na Hee-seok) searched the Korea offices of Montage Technology of China, Renesas Electronics of Japan, and Rambus Inc. of the United States on suspicion of violating the Fair Trade Act.
These corporations are suspected of colluding on prices while supplying products to Samsung Electronics and others. Prosecutors reportedly detected signs of price collusion by these corporations on their own and launched an investigation.
Prosecutors plan to analyze mobile phones and other items seized during the raids and focus their probe on whether there was an exchange of information, the timing and scope of the collusion, and the impact on actual delivery prices.
Meanwhile, the Fair Trade Investigation Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office recently indicted the four major refiners and four executives and employees on charges of colluding on the timing and scale of oil product price hikes immediately after the U.S.-Iran war.