LITTLE ROCK — Technology firms
settle with states
A $173 million settlement has been reached with six computer-chip manufacturers that were sued by 33 state attorneys general for price fixing, according to a release from Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel.
“These companies conspired to raise the prices of memory chips that are used in millions of computers and other electronic products,” McDaniel said in a release.
How much of the settlement will go to Arkansas and other states will be decided in future court proceedings.
The manufacturers are Micron Technology Inc., NEC Electronics America Inc., Infineon Technologies AG, Hynix Semiconductor Inc., Elpida Memory Inc., and Mosel-Vitelic Corp.
The companies produce Dynamic Random Access Memory computer chips.
The companies conducted meetings among salesmen and management from 1998 till 2002 in which they agreed to quote inflated prices to customers, according to the release.
Research alliance
to name 2 scholars
The Arkansas Research Alliance will announce the first two alliance scholars for the state at a news conference July 7.
The alliance was established in 2008 by Accelerate Arkansas to support job creating research at Arkansas universities. Accelerate Arkansas is a statewide network of business and education leaders working to close the per-capita-income gap between Arkansas and the country.
The scholars will be experts in their fields with research credentials and entrepreneurial records, the alliance says on its website.
They will oversee research programs that will improve Arkansas’ economy through commercialization and business development, the site says.
The alliance, modeled after a similar group in Georgia, also said it will disclose its vision for the state at the news conference at the Governor’s conference room in the state Capitol.
State index slides
as U.S. stocks fall
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, fell 2.84 to 173.08 Thursday.
“U.S. stocks retreated on Thursday as concerns mounted over the financial reform bill and disappointing forecasts from retailers,” said John Blackwell, senior vice president and managing director of equity trading at Stephens Inc. in Little Rock. “The Arkansas Index moved lower as 14 stocks declined and three advanced.”
Dillard’s lost 5.3 percent in below-average trading, and Baldor Electric fell 4 percent on light volume.
Volume was 30.8 million shares, compared with average volume of 34.7 million shares.
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.
Business, Pages 27 on 06/25/2010