US: Japanese manufacturer pleads guilty to price-fixing in disk drives

NHK Spring, a Japanese manufacturer of suspension assemblies used in hard disk drives, has agreed to plead guilty for its role in a global conspiracy to fix prices, the Department of Justice announced Tuesday, July 30.

According to a one-count felony charge filed today in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan in Detroit, NHK Spring reached agreements with co-conspirators to refrain from price competition and allocate their respective market shares for suspension assemblies used in hard disk drives.  Pursuant to their agreements not to compete, NHK Spring and its co-conspirators exchanged pricing information including anticipated pricing quotes, which they used to inform their negotiations with US and foreign customers that purchased suspension assemblies and produced hard disk drives for sale in, or delivery to, the US and elsewhere.

“Today’s charge affirms the Antitrust Division’s commitment to eradicate price fixing by companies, foreign or domestic,” said Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim of the Antitrust Division.  “While these parts are physically small, they are critical to the operation and performance of electronic devices, and their impact on American consumers and businesses is direct and substantial.”