AI also conquers Tokyo: SoftBank undermines Toyota on the stock exchange

Perhaps it was inevitable. Inevitable that artificial intelligence, with its boom that has been animating the markets for three years now, would also subvert certain historical balances. Thus, Toyota, the car manufacturer that has been the beating heart of Japanese industry for years, is losing its sceptre as the company with the largest capitalisation on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. And it loses it to SoftBank Group, a holding company that has invested money and hopes in AI.

A symbolic step reflecting the growing weight of artificial intelligence in global financial markets and the changing industrial balance in Japan. In the last session, SoftBank's stock rose 14%, taking the group's capitalisation to over 48 trillion yen, compared with around 46 trillion for Toyota. This result consolidates a trend that has been going on for months. Since the beginning of the year, for example, SoftBank's shares have risen more than 90%, while Toyota's have lost more than 10%.

It has to be said that it was since 2000, during the peak of the Japanese Internet bubble, that SoftBank had failed to overtake Toyota in market value. At the time, the overtaking was temporary. Today, however, it comes in a very different context, dominated by the global race for AI and the investment in the infrastructure needed to support it.

SoftBank's rise was mainly supported by optimism around the group's investments in the AI ecosystem. The holding company led by Masayoshi Son has pledged around $65 billion in OpenAI, reaching a stake close to 13 per cent by October. Investors are now looking with some optimism at possible future US listings of OpenAI and SB Energy, both of which are significant holdings of the group.

Arm Holdings, a subsidiary of SoftBank, also contributed to the valuation, which benefited from the growing demand for chips and the enthusiasm following NVIDIA's results. ARM's stock has gained over 250% since the beginning of the year.