Commerce Dept. revoked antidumping duty against static random acc...

Commerce Dept. revoked antidumping duty against static random access memory (SRAM) semiconductors from Taiwan. Effective Mon. (Jan. 14), order follows 3-year court battle involving U.S. govt., Taiwan industry group, domestic SRAM industry. Commerce made less than fair value determination against Taiwan SRAM industry in Feb. 1998, subsequently affirmed by U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC). Taiwan Semiconductor Industry Assn. challenged ITC finding in U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT), which twice remanded case to ITC. In 2nd remand, ITC reversed 1998 finding. Domestic industry, led by Micron Technologies, lost appeal of reversed decision. Commerce also is terminating administrative and shipper reviews during 3-year period and instructed Custom Services to refund all duties deposited by importers plus interest where applicable. Duty was imposed when SRAM business was in decline due to PC makers’ moving to newer technology. Market subsequently revived as manufacturers began to use SRAM as embedded memory for many telecom devices, including wireless handsets.