Micron Technologies President Steve Appleton today told the International Trade Commission that Hynix Semiconductor Inc. "to all extent and purposes is bankrupt and being protected by the Korean government."
In a preliminary ITC hearing on the countervailing duty petition filed by Micron earlier this month, Appleton charged that Hynix was given the alleged subsidies "to add DRAM capacity in the worst period in the industry's history. Korea intends to maintain DRAM market share regardless of the cost," he asserted.
But Hynix attorneys retorted that Micron itself had added more capacity in recent years than the Korean chipmaker. James Durling, Hynix counsel, also quoted from Micron's own annual report and statements to analysts that the firm was in a strong financial position even in the period of the severely depressed DRAM market.
Gary Swanson, vice president of sales for Hynix Semiconductor America, San Jose, Calif., claimed that over the last three years Micron "has aggressively and steadily gained market share," especially in the U.S. with a 26.2% share.
Lawyers for Samsung Electronics Co., also named in the Micron petition, denied receiving any improper subsidies and claimed the U.S. chipmaker acknowledged this by its sparse comments about Samsung. Warren Connelly claimed Micron cited Samsung only to meet legal requirements that a countervailing duty case should be filed against all manufacturers in a country, rather than singling out a single company.
The ITC hearing came a day after the Commerce Department agreed to investigate Micron's complaint. In the two-step process, Commerce determines whether illegal subsidies occurred, and the ITC decides if the U.S. industry has been injured.
Commerce extended the period of inquiry to cover 18 months after Jan. 1, 2001, rather than the 12-month period traditionally studied. Hynix attorneys, however, told the ITC that Commerce also decided the Korean firm's Eugene, Ore., fab, and Samsung's Austin, Tex., fab would not be included in the investigation, as Micron had sought.
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