Friday, November 22, 2002
The Department of Commerce on Thursday agreed to investigate charges by Micron technology Inc. that the South Korean government improperly subsidized DRAM operations of Hynix Semiconductor Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co.
Micron earlier this month filed a petition seeking countervailing duties against the two chipmakers for allegedly receiving $11.86 billion in illegal government subsidies during 2001 and the first six months of 2002. The Korean government and the companies denied the Micron charges but were unable to convince the Commerce Department not to launch its investigation.
In a document launching the probe, Commerce said it took the unusual step of extending the period of investigation to cover the 18 months after Jan. 1, 2001. Normally a countervailing duty probe covers only a 12-month period. However, Commerce said it agreed with Micron that many of the alleged subsidies happened in the first half of 2002 as well and would be investigated.
Commerce said it will study whether the Korean government directed banks it owns or controls to extend credit and bail out Hynix. "We are investigating whether the government of Korea directs credit in Korea and whether the semiconductor industry receives a disproportionate share of the directed credit," the Commerce document said. The agency also listed special tax relief for the semiconductor firms that will be probed.
By: DocMemory
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