Micron Technology benefits from potential legal case settlement and rising chip prices

According to court papers released last week, the major manufacturers of DRAM memory chips have reached a settlement in principle in an antitrust case that has been in federal appeals court since 2008. Companies including Micron Technologly (MU) are defendants in the case brought by the state of California and others. No details of the financial terms of the settlement were in the court papers.  "The parties have informed the Court that they have reached an agreement in principle to the terms of a settlement in this and related actions and are currently negotiating a final settlement agreement," said a U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals order filed Feb. 17. Micron was recently up to $9.50, nearly 5% as chip price sentiment continues to improve. The Semiconductor Industry Association [SIA] said Monday that worldwide chip sales in January rose to $22.5 billion, a 47.2% increase from the same month a year ago. Chip sales were also up 0.3% from December.