Following complaints from Korean digital music player makers, Samsung and Apple could be facing an antitrust probe over NAND flash memory chip pricing. Samsung is said to have sold its flash chips to Apple for the iPod nano at below-market prices, crippling makers of iPod competitors who cannot now build comparable devices at the same price points.
“Speaking at a local radio talk show, FTC Chairman Kang Chul-kyu said questions about Samsung and Apple engaging in unfair trading could be investigated by the antitrust body,” reports Asia’s Yonhap News. “The issue of whether Samsung provided cheap flash memory chips for use in Apple’s latest MP3 music player was raised earlier this week during a parliamentary audit on the FTC.
Rep. Kim Hyun-mi claimed that Samsung sold its NAND chips for US$54, or roughly 50 per cent of market prices.”
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