The bulk of the settlement, $80 million, goes directly to consumers. The exact number of Utah victims was not available Wednesday. Individual states will split up the remaining $10 million under a formula not yet divulged.
But Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff said the true value of the settlement, which covers chip sales from 1998 through 2002, is the message it sends. "This conspiracy forced consumers to pay too much for computers. Ninety-million dollars will help make those consumers whole and put the computer chip industry on notice."
The settlement comes in an anti-trust complaint that charged South Korea's Samsung Semiconductor Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. with a price-fixing conspiracy. Co-defendants include at least seven other companies, among them Boise, Idaho-based Micron.
Micron is partnering with Intel in the Lehi IM Flash Technologies plant, which has hired nearly 2,000 workers over the past several months. The Utah County facility expects to begin making flash memory modules within the next few months.
Flash memory is found in hand-held computers, digital music players and smart phones.
The Samsung settlement involves DRAM (dynamic random access memory) chips found in personal computers, network servers and other electronic devices.
Samsung, which admits no wrongdoing in the settlement, also has agreed to aid ongoing price-fixing litigation against its alleged co-conspirators. The deal is awaiting final approval by U.S. District Court in San Francisco.
Micron spokesman Dan Francisco, which continues to fight over its alleged role in the case, declined to comment on the Samsung settlement.
"Micron continues to defend various cases filed on behalf of purported indirect purchasers of DRAM and on behalf of various states through their attorneys general," he said.
Last month, Micron settled a separate civil class-action suit brought by corporate-level purchasers of DRAM chips.
The company, which admitted no guilt, did not disclose the amount of the settlement. Micron did acknowledge that the deal would result in a first-quarter earnings adjustment of up to $80 million.
bmims@sltrib.com
