Japan's Hitachi, pleading guilty for its role in price fixing in the LCD market on Tuesday, joined the companies like LG, Chunghwa and Sharp, which have pleaded guilty for the same.

The US DOJ filed one-count felony charge against Hitachi in U. S. District Court in San Francisco. The DOJ charged Hitachi with conspiracy to fix the prices of TFT-LCD sold to Dell for use in desktop monitors and notebook computers from April 1, 2001 to March 31, 2004.

In the affidavit submitted to the court, the DOJ alleged that Hitachi participated in meetings in Japan, Korea and the U. S. to discuss prices for the LCDs over a period stretching from April 1, 2001, through March 31, 2004.

According to the U. S. Department of Justice, Hitachi pleaded guilty, and the compnay will now pay the fine of $31 million for the role it played to fix prices in the sale of thin film transistor-liquid crystal display panels sold to Dell Inc.

The U. S. Department of Justice reported that under the plea agreement, Hitachi will cooperate with the DOJ's ongoing investigation. The U. S. District Court for the Northern District of California will approve the plea agreement.