Elpida Memory Inc’s shares fell to the lowest in two months in Tokyo trading after the US vowed to use WTO sessions to press Japan over subsidies to the chipmaker and Credit Suisse Group AG cut the stock’s rating.
Elpida, Japan’s biggest computer memory chipmaker, slumped 8.6 percent to close at ¥1,076 (US$11.95) on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the lowest level since July 30. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average lost 1.5 percent.
US Trade Representative Ron Kirk promised in a letter made public on Wednesday to Senator Mike Crapo to use sessions at the WTO over subsidies and a separate meeting of countries with semiconductor production to get more information from Japan and Taiwan about the aid following complaints from US rival Micron Technology Inc.
“The US move is a surprise and is definitely influencing the shares,” said Yuichi Ishida, an analyst at Mizuho Financial Group Inc in Tokyo. “Micron is being left behind as the global computer memory market undergoes change, which is the setting for this development.”
Hiroshi Tsuboi, a spokesman at Tokyo-based Elpida said the company wasn’t able to comment.
“It’s a matter between the Japanese and US governments,” he said.
Credit Suisse lowered its rating on the company to “neutral” from “outperform,” saying the stock price already reflects the prospect of increasing demand for semiconductors.
Elpida’s 12-month share price estimate was cut 27 percent to ¥1,100, Hideyuki Maekawa, a Tokyo-based analyst at the brokerage, said in a report dated Wednesday.
Elpida said in June it might receive ¥160 billion in aid from the Japanese government, its Taiwanese partner and financial institutions after falling semiconductor prices drove the company to a record loss last fiscal year.
Crapo, a Republican, said subsidies to overseas chipmakers are driving down prices for Boise, Idaho-based computer memory maker Micron.
Taiwan Memory Co (台灣創新記憶體公司), a chipmaker set up by the Taiwanese government that has a technology partnership with Elpida, plans to invest ¥20 billion in the Japanese firm by March 31.
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
Taiwanese suppliers to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) are expected to follow the contract chipmaker’s step to invest in the US, but their relocation may be seven to eight years away, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. When asked by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in the legislature about growing concerns that TSMC’s huge investments in the US will prompt its suppliers to follow suit, Kuo said based on the chipmaker’s current limited production volume, it is unlikely to lead its supply chain to go there for now. “Unless TSMC completes its planned six
TikTok abounds with viral videos accusing prestigious brands of secretly manufacturing luxury goods in China so they can be sold at cut prices. However, while these “revelations” are spurious, behind them lurks a well-oiled machine for selling counterfeit goods that is making the most of the confusion surrounding trade tariffs. Chinese content creators who portray themselves as workers or subcontractors in the luxury goods business claim that Beijing has lifted confidentiality clauses on local subcontractors as a way to respond to the huge hike in customs duties imposed on China by US President Donald Trump. They say this Chinese decision, of which Agence
RSS