EU fines 10 memory chip producers $403 million

BRUSSELS (AP) - The European Union has fined 10 producers of memory chips a combined euro331 million ($403 million) for colluding in a price-fixing cartel.

The EU Commission said Wednesday that the ten companies, mostly non-European, rigged the market between 1998 and 2002 through the sharing of secret information which allowed them to set prices and quotations for Dynamic Random Access Memory chips in Europe. Samsung received the biggest fine of euro145 million ($177 million).