The European Union fined a group of computer chip makers €331.3 million, or $421 million, Wednesday for price-fixing in the first-ever settlement of a cartel case in Europe.

Samsung of South Korea, the market leader, received the highest fine, €145.7 million, and Infineon, based in Germany, was second at €56.7 million.

Those amounts were less than they could have been — by about 20 percent for Samsung and about 50 percent for Infineon — partly because of the settlement and partly because of other leniency arrangements. The new procedure allows for reduced fines in exchange for an agreement under which the companies are expected not to appeal the European Commission’s decision to court.

Micron of the United States, which first reported the cartel to authorities in 2002, escaped a fine.

The E.U. Competition Commissioner Joaquín Almunia said that the new policy was designed to speed up investigations, free up resources to deal with other cases and generally improve the efficiency of its antitrust enforcement.

via E.U. Fines Computer Chip Makers for Price-Fixing – NYTimes.com.

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