An American probe into an alleged international conspiracy to fix the price of microchips has been extended to include Samsung, the South Korean semi-conductor giant.
The world’s second-largest chipmaker confirmed that it faces scrutiny as part of a US investigation which has already led to Infineon, the German chipmaker, paying $160 million (£90m) in fines.
Samsung’s Korean rival Hynix Semiconductor said it faces similar charges.
The companies today shrugged off suggestions that they had operated a price-fixing cartel but told AFP that they would co-operate with US investigators.
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Samsung shares traded flat while Hynix fell 2 per cent on the South Korean stockmarket as reports of the probe emerged.
American officials yesterday said that Infineon had agreed to pay a $160 million fine to settle federal charges that it had acted illegally to fix computer chip prices.
Infineon was accused of participating in a price-fixing scheme from July 1 1999 to June 15, 2002 involving other producers of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips.
The German chip producer was the first company to plead guilty in the investigation and received the third largest criminal fine of its kind in the US.
Infineon, together with Samsung Electronics, Hynix and Micron Technology of the US, holds more than 75 per cent of the world’s DRAM market.
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In a separate development, the Korea Stock Exchange has launched an investigation into Samsung over allegations of insider trading.
Samsung faces charges that acted improperly ahead of the announcement on Monday of a £1 billion share buy-back scheme.
Shares in the company rose more than 4 per cent on Friday on rumours of a share buy-back, which prompted the Korean Stock Exchange to ask Samsung to clarify the speculation.
Samsung has said it does not know how the rumours emerged, saying that the official decision was made at an extraordinary meeting on Monday.