The headquarters of both companies were raided by the Japanese Fair Trade Commission yesterday in an effort to gather potential evidence of an illegal price-fixing arrangement.

Sharp, the original supplier of Nintendo DS screens, was joined by Hitachi when demand for the DS skyrocketed a year after the handheld's release.

While both companies confirmed the probe, neither issued any further comment on the investigation. The Japanese government recently enacted a "whistle-blower law" which grants legal immunity to the first company within a price-fixing cartel to come clean.