(Bloomberg) — SoftBank Group Corp. overtook Toyota Motor Corp. as Japan’s most valuable company on Monday, marking a milestone for the global boom in artificial intelligence and a dramatic reorganization of the country’s corporate hierarchy.
Shares in the technology group led by Masayoshi Son rose 14% in Tokyo trading, taking its market capitalization above Toyota’s for the first time in more than two decades. This feat had previously been achieved only briefly, at the height of the internet bubble in Japan in 2000, considering the market value including treasury shares.
The surge has boosted SoftBank’s shares by more than 90% this year, pushing the company’s market value above ¥48 trillion, above Toyota’s roughly ¥46 trillion. Toyota shares, in turn, have fallen more than 10% this year.
Study abroad
Upgrade your career!
SoftBank X Toyota Market Value
This switch in positions underscores how quickly investor appetite has shifted toward companies that are benefiting from the expansion of AI. It also reflects how the fortunes of two Japanese corporate titans have diverged, as macroeconomic headwinds and geopolitical tensions weigh on the auto sector while AI euphoria gathers steam.
“This historic event symbolizes the AI boom,” said Kazuhiro Sasaki, head of research at Phillip Securities Japan Ltd. “Extraordinary conditions are emerging around expectations for large IPOs in the US,” triggering a reallocation of capital, he said.
Japanese memory chip maker Kioxia Holdings Corp. It also has a market value hovering around ¥40 trillion, making it Japan’s third most valuable company, ahead of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. The NAND flash chip supplier expects to make more profit in the current quarter than in the entire 12-month period ending in March, due to AI data centers’ voracious appetite for data storage.
Continues after advertising
SoftBank rose this Monday as AI-related companies advanced across the region, making the company the biggest boost to the Topix index, while Toyota was the indicator’s biggest negative weight. Over the weekend, the company announced plans to invest up to $87 billion in building AI data centers in France, fueling optimism about increased demand for AI infrastructure.
SoftBank shares have been advancing since news broke last month that two of its high-profile portfolio companies – OpenAI and SB Energy Corp. – were preparing for possible US stock offerings. SoftBank has already committed around US$65 billion to the ChatGPT developer, which will give it a stake of around 13% by October.
Investor sentiment toward SoftBank has undergone a turnaround, casting aside earlier concerns that intensifying competition from rivals such as Anthropic PBC, Alphabet Inc.’s Google and xAI Corp. of Elon Musk could erode OpenAI’s leadership.
Also read:
The company’s valuation has also been supported by earnings from its chip design unit, Arm Holdings Plc, following results from Nvidia Corp. and the growing conviction that the demand for AI will continue to spread across sectors.
Excluding treasury shares, SoftBank’s market value had already surpassed Toyota’s last month. Unlike in the US, it is common in Japan for market capitalization to include treasury shares, although analysts often exclude them for global comparison purposes.
Continues after advertising
In contrast, Toyota shares have retreated this year amid a deteriorating macroeconomic backdrop. Hostilities linked to the conflict in Iran have driven up oil prices, increasing fuel costs and weakening demand for automobiles.
Automotive sector growth also remains under severe pressure as the industry faces a strenuous and capital-intensive structural transition toward electric vehicles and software integration.
“SoftBank focused its management resources on AI-related businesses and was able to ride the broad global technology rally,” said Tomo Kinoshita, global market strategist at Invesco Asset Management Japan Ltd. “Toyota, in turn, was impacted by the rise in oil prices resulting from the war in Iran, which increases the cost of operating vehicles and weighs on global demand for automobiles.”
Continues after advertising
Kinoshita said the valuation gap could reverse later this year if oil prices fall and support automotive demand, but that the long-term trajectory favors technology companies.
“In the longer term, companies linked to AI tend to have higher valuations,” said Kinoshita. “Their presence in the Japanese stock market should only continue to get stronger.”
© 2026 Bloomberg L.P.
