SoftBank Group (SBG), led by Chairman Masayoshi Son, has overtaken Toyota Motor in market capitalization to become Japan's largest company by value. It marks the first time in 22 years that Toyota has been displaced from the top spot.
According to the Nikkei on Monday, SoftBank shares surged 9% from the previous trading day on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Its intraday market capitalization reached 46.5 trillion yen (approximately 436 trillion won), surpassing Toyota's 45.8 trillion yen. The rally was driven in particular by SoftBank's announcement that it would invest up to 75 billion euros (approximately 132 trillion won) to build an artificial intelligence (AI) data center in France.
The leading company on the Tokyo Stock Exchange has long mirrored shifts in Japan's industrial landscape. Toyota had held the No. 1 position since surpassing NTT DoCoMo's market capitalization in December 2003. In February this year, the automaker hit an all-time high since its listing, with its market capitalization briefly exceeding 60 trillion yen, but its share price has been sluggish recently.
Against this backdrop, analysts say the strength of AI-related stocks has propelled SoftBank, with its deep ties to the sector, into the spotlight. SoftBank shares have climbed to around 8,150 yen, nearly quadrupling over the past year. The company has invested heavily in OpenAI, the operator of ChatGPT, and U.K.-based chip designer Arm Holdings. Expectations that the value of its holdings will expand following OpenAI's expected listing within the year, combined with a sharp rise in Arm shares on the back of growing global semiconductor demand, have buoyed the stock.
Adding to the momentum, news that SoftBank will make a major investment in France to build a 5-gigawatt (GW) AI data center has heightened investor expectations. The plan to turn France — which has lagged behind the United States and China in AI development — into Europe's AI hub is being interpreted as SoftBank securing a foothold at the center of the AI transition.
Recently, Japanese listed companies have seen continued reshuffling in market capitalization rankings, centered on beneficiaries of the AI boom. Memory chipmaker Kioxia Holdings, previously ranked 26th by market capitalization, recently overtook second-ranked Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group after posting a sharp jump in quarterly net profit.
Boosted by SoftBank's share price gains, the Nikkei 225 stock average, Japan's benchmark index, rose 1.2% from the previous trading day to 67,168.48 yen in the morning session, breaking the 67,000 yen mark in intraday trading for the first time ever.
