Armed with much more comprehensive data on Japanese semiconductor manufacturers’ costs than it had six months ago, the US Commerce Department has lowered its minimum fair market values for three classes of chips by 8.3% to 40.9%. Minimum prices for Japanese EPROMs sold in the US and third nations fall 8.3% to $5.50; those for 256K memory chips fall 16.7% to $2.50 and 1M chips fall 40.9% to $13. The cuts follow a 50% reduction in October.