Micron Technology, as part of an agreement to win amnesty from prosecution by the Justice Department, may admit it conspired with competitors to manipulate computer-chip prices, people familiar with the probe said.
Boise, Idaho-based Micron, the world's No. 2 maker of memory chips, is in talks to provide information to bolster a possible U.S. case against three other companies in the $16 billion market for dynamic random access memory, or DRAM, chips, the people said.
The U.S. is probing whether Micron conspired with Infineon Technologies, Samsung Electronics and Hynix Semiconductor.
Cooperating with the agency could allow Micron executives to avoid prosecution.
Dave Parker, a spokesman for Micron, and Hynix spokesman Bang Min Ho declined to comment.
Spokesmen could not be reached at Infineon or Samsung.
Richard Cohen, an attorney with the antitrust division of the Justice Department in San Francisco, said the agency won't confirm or deny whether it has amnesty agreements with companies.
Micron has declined to participate in a joint defense with the other companies and instead is negotiating amnesty with the department, people familiar with the talks said.
Alfred Censullo, a former Micron sales manager, last month agreed to plead guilty to obstructing justice in the price-fixing investigation. He will admit he altered handwritten notes about chip prices after a grand jury in June 2002 subpoenaed documents from the companies.
Obstruction of justice carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, the department said.
The Justice Department typically tries to prove a price-fixing case with help from a company that participated in the effort, said former Justice prosecutor Steven Kowal.
The department is investigating whether the four chip makers, which account for two thirds of industry sales, tried to manipulate prices in the spot market for chips. About 80 percent of memory chips are sold in contracts with computer manufacturers and the remainder is traded on spot markets in Asia and the U.S.
The spot prices form the basis for contract terms and are used by investors and analysts to gauge global supply and demand.
The companies sell millions of memory chips each month to computer and device makers. Prices and inventory costs can gyrate in just a few days and hurt or boost profit because memory-chip factories, unlike other chip plants, must run continuously.
