The watchdog has launched a raid, or an “on-the-spot inspection”, on the unit of Sharp and Hitachi Displays Ltd. a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hitachi.
Allegations have arisen that the companies are operating a price fixing cartel for LCD displays that are used in games consoles, namely the Nintendo DS. Sharp and Hitachi Display are confirmed to be the only suppliers of the 3-inch screen panel for the DS and DS Lite models for Nintendo.
”It is true that the Fair Trade Commission is doing an on-the-spot inspection on our company, but we are still trying to confirm further details,” said a spokeswoman for Sharp.
Having confirmed that Sharp and Hitachi Display are the sole LCD suppliers to the DS, a Nintendo spokesman said ”but we are not aware of the reported allegations.” Whether the company filed the complaint alleging the price fixing was not known they added.
The Japanese Fair Trade Commission has made no immediate comment on the investigation.
Click here to visit the official site of the Japanese Fair Trade commission.