Taiwan’s Chi Mei Pays $220 Mln in LCD Price Fixing

By Geoff Duncan December 15, 2009

sharp_aquos_lc_52le700un-400-400

The U.S. Justice Department has announced the Taiwan’s Chi Mei Optoelectronics has agreed to plead guilty and pay $220 million in penalties for its participation in a scheme to fix prices for LCD displays. If the plea is approved, Chi Mei will also cooperate in the DOJ’s ongoing price fixing investigation.

According to the DOJ, Chi Mei participated in the LCD price fixing scheme with several other companies, including Hitachi, Sharp, LG, and Chungwa Picture Tube—with some company executives even drawing jail time for their role in the conspiracy. Chi Mei participated in the meetings at which pre-determined prices were reached, and shared sales data on TFT-LCD panels to help enforce the companies’ conformance to the price-fixing scheme.

Recommended Videos

Total penalties assessed so far in the LCD price fixing cases now total more than $860 million. And the battle is not over: while the recent guilty pleas and settlements have related to LCD panels used in computers and televisions, AT&T and Nokia are suing many of the same companies for price fixing LCD panels for mobile devices.

Topics

Web
LG

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…

Computing

Trying to buy a GPU in 2023 almost makes me miss the shortage

Two AMD Radeon RX 7000 graphics cards on a pink surface.

The days of the GPU shortage are long over, but somehow, buying a GPU is harder than ever -- and that sentiment has very little to do with stock levels. It's just that there are no obvious candidates when shopping anymore.

In a generation where no single GPU stands out as the single best graphics card, it's hard to jump on board with the latest from AMD and Nvidia. I don't want to see another GPU shortage, but the state of the graphics card market is far from where it should be.
This generation is all over the place

Computing

HP printers are heavily discounted in Best Buy’s flash sale

The HP - OfficeJet Pro 8034e Wireless All-In-One Inkjet Printer on a desk with a smartphone.

There’s good news in store if you’re looking to land a new printer at a discount this weekend. Best Buy is having a 48-hour flash sale on HP printers, with several that can compete with the best printers seeing some good prices. HP is almost always one of the best laptop brands, and it’s one of the same when it comes to printers. So if you’re looking for a new home or office printer, read onward on how to save on an HP printer at Best Buy.
HP DeskJet 2755e — $60, was $85

The HP DeskJet 2755e is a good entry-level printer. It’s got you covered if your printing needs are pretty basic, or if you don’t need to print in mass. This is a color InkJet printer, which makes it good for almost all uses. It can also make copies and scan in color, and it has mobile and wireless printing functionality. You can get set up quickly and easily with the HP Smart app that guides you through the setup process, and you can also use this app to print, scan and copy documents from your phone.

Computing

This tiny ThinkPad can’t quite keep up with the MacBook Air M2

While the laptop industry continues to move toward 14-inch laptops and larger, the 13-inch laptop remains an important category. One of the best is the Apple MacBook Air M2, with an extremely thin and well-built chassis, great performance, and incredibly long battery life.

Lenovo has recently introduced the third generation of its ThinkPad X1 Nano, one of the lightest laptops we've tested and a good performer as well. It's stiff competition, but which of these two diminutive laptops stands apart?
Specs and configurations