SoftBank Ousts Toyota From Japan's Top Spot After 22-Year Reign
01.06.2026 - 16:21:51 | boerse-global.de
SoftBank Group has unseated Toyota Motor as Japan's most valuable publicly traded company, a milestone that underscores the country's accelerating shift from industrial manufacturing to technology-driven investing. The stock surged 14% in Tokyo on Monday, pushing SoftBank's market capitalisation past 48 trillion yen ($305.8 billion), while Toyota slid 4.9% to roughly 46 trillion yen.
The last time SoftBank held the crown was in 2000, during the peak of the dot-com bubble. Toyota has dominated the ranking continuously since 2003. Now, a single catalyst has redrawn the landscape: Masayoshi Son’s bold bet on artificial intelligence infrastructure.
A €75 Billion Pivot to France's Nuclear-Powered Grid
SoftBank's latest rally was ignited by a weekend announcement of plans to invest up to €75 billion in AI data centres across France. The first phase, worth €45 billion, targets 3.1 gigawatts of capacity across sites in Dunkirk, Bosquel and Bouchain by 2031. The total project aims for 5 gigawatts — roughly three times France's current data centre capacity.
The company has lined up Schneider Electric to integrate power modules and EDF as energy partner. France’s nuclear-heavy grid, which supplies about 70% of the country's electricity, offers a crucial advantage as AI demand strains energy systems in the US and elsewhere. SoftBank described the initiative as "the largest AI infrastructure investment in Europe", promising thousands of jobs in data centres, robotics and manufacturing, plus academic partnerships.
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Arm and OpenAI: Two-Thirds of the Value
SoftBank's valuation is deeply reliant on its two biggest holdings. It owns roughly 90% of chip designer Arm Holdings, whose architecture now underpins everything from smartphones to data-centre processors. Arm shares have more than tripled in 2026. At the Computex trade show in Taiwan on Monday, Nvidia announced a new processor built on Arm's platform — the N1X, developed with Microsoft — signalling a push into Intel and AMD's turf.
On the portfolio side, SoftBank holds about 13% of OpenAI on a pro-forma basis. The ChatGPT developer recently closed a funding round with $122 billion in committed capital at a post-money valuation of $852 billion. Speculation about a US initial public offering for OpenAI, alongside a potential listing for SB Energy Corp., has added further momentum. According to Morningstar, Arm accounts for roughly 40% of SoftBank’s total asset value and OpenAI about 26% — together nearly two-thirds.
The Concentration Risk Beneath the Rally
Monday's surge carried the Nikkei 225 above 67,000 points for the first time, with SoftBank as the index’s biggest driver. Year to date, the stock has gained more than 80%. Yet the same forces that have propelled it could reverse just as quickly. The rally is tightly correlated with Arm's share price, OpenAI's implied valuation and the capital-expenditure outlook for hyperscale cloud providers — all of them volatile inputs.
SoftBank at a turning point? This analysis reveals what investors need to know now.
Conservative analysts also point to SoftBank's debt load. The group carries roughly 16 trillion yen in interest-bearing liabilities at the holding level. Financing a €75 billion construction plan will tighten the balance sheet further. For now, investors are betting that the France bet and the portfolio tailwinds will sustain the momentum, but the next test will come when the first phase requires a final investment decision. Any delay could refocus attention on the leverage.
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