Elpida shares drop on WTO threat

Elpida, Japan's biggest computer memory-chip maker, slumped 8.6 percent to close at 1,076 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the lowest level since July 30. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average lost 1.5 percent.

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk promised in a letter made public 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 U.S. rival Micron Technology Inc.

“The U.S. 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.

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