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China fines four
Taiwanese flat-panel producers
By Lisa Wang / Staff reporter
China yesterday fined four Taiwanese and two South Korean flat-panel
manufacturers 353 million yuan (US$56.6 million) for price-fixing.
The move follows similar anti-trust suits by the US and Europe that have
resulted in billions of US dollars in penalties for display manufacturers.
The six companies — South Korea’s Samsung Display and LG Display, and Taiwan’s
Innolux Corp (群創光電), AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), Chunghwa Picture Tubes (中華映管) and
HannStar Display Corp (瀚宇彩晶) — were found to have fixed prices for LCD screens
sold in China from 2001 to 2006, China’s National Development and Reform
Commission said in a statement posted on its Web site yesterday.
The six “held meetings once a month in Taiwan or South Korea to exchange
information about the LCD panel market and negotiate panel prices,” the
commission said.
“The price manipulation has damaged the interests of [Chinese LCD TV] companies
and consumers,” as the flat panels accounted for as much as 80 percent of the
manufacturing costs for Chinese TV manufacturers, it said.
The nation’s two top makers, Innolux and AU Optronics, were fined 94.41 million
yuan and 21.89 million yuan respectively. Smaller panel makers Chunghwa Picture
and HannStar were fined 16.2 million yuan and 240,000 yuan respectively.
Samsung and LG bore the brunt, with fines of 101 million yuan and 144 million
yuan respectively, the statement showed.
Innolux, previously named Chimei Innolux Corp (奇美電子), and AU Optronics said the
punishment would not have a material effect on their operations.
“The company has already booked a non-operating loss [for the price-fixing
suit],” Innolux spokesman Lin Chen-hui (林振輝) said in an e-mailed statement.
Innolux said the ruling was “regrettable,” as the company had talked to the
commission a few months ago in an attempt to solve the problem.
AU Optronics declined to comment on an earlier Chinese media report alleging it
would be exempted from the fine because it had pleaded guilty prior to the
ruling.
The Chinese authority said some of the companies under investigation have
pleaded guilty and thereby were fined less.
The commission said the price-fixing case involves 5.15 million flat panels,
from which the six suppliers made 208 million yuan in illegal profits.
In addition to punitive fines, the panel manufacturers were required to extend
their maintenance service to 36 months from the original 18 months.
AU Optronics and Innolux shares were unchanged at NT$13.80 and NT$16.80
yesterday, retreating from gains made earlier in the day.
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