LCD makers under price-fixing investigation

**nekon** · 12-25-2006

as the hd world turns.. they're digging up dead bodies here

In light of our recent post about another Samsung exec falling on his sword in the DRAM price-fixing scandal and the current DoJ scrutiny of the graphics card industry, commetor, otakucode, reminds us about the developing LCD antitrust story. (Maybe this will take our minds off the SRAM incident.)

LCD screens are becoming commodities, being produced for phones, TVs, computers, game systems, MP3 players, and many more devices. With the screens being so common, their cost -- and profit -- naturally falls, so what's a little collusion among friends?

LG.Philips, Samsung, Sharp, and others have been contacted by authorities in the U.S., Europe, Japan, and/or Korea about working together to keep LCD prices high; so far, the investigation relates to devices from 2003 and 2004.

We always thought LCDs were expensive, especially a few years ago. We're interested in finding out if we're just miserly or if the prices have been artificially high. Probably both.

Source: http://www.joystiq.com/2006/12/25/lc...investigation/