[JURIST] The US Department of Justice [official website] on Thursday announced [press release] that Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. [corporate website] will plead guilty to charges that it conspired with other technology companies to fix prices on some of its dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips. Under the plea deal, Samsung has agreed to pay $300 million in fines, the second largest antitrust fine in US history, and will cooperate in any further investigations. This latest settlement is part of the DOJ's ongoing investigation into price-fixing in the DRAM industry. Hynix Semiconductor [corporate website] in April pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges [JURIST report] for the role it played in the price-fixing scheme. In December, 2004, four Infineon executives pleaded guilty to similar charges of price-fixing [JURIST report]. Seven Samsung executives are not party to today's settlement, and may still face charges for their role in the price fixing scheme. Bloomberg has extended coverage of the Samsung settlement. Reuters has more.