SoftBank Surpasses Toyota to Become Japan’s Biggest Company After Two Decades
On June 1, 2026, SoftBank Group Corp. officially overtook Toyota Motor Corp. to become Japan’s most valuable listed company, ending the automaker’s 22-year dominance and marking a seismic realignment in how global investors view the Japanese corporate landscape. SoftBank shares climbed 14% on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, pushing the group’s market capitalisation to approximately Â¥48.8 trillion (around $308 billion), above Toyota’s Â¥45.9 trillion.
The catalyst was multi-pronged. On Sunday, SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son stood alongside French President Emmanuel Macron to announce a commitment of up to €75 billion ($87.5 billion) in AI infrastructure investment across France, described by Son as “the largest AI infrastructure investment in Europe.” The initial phase includes 3.1 gigawatts of AI data centres to be built in northern Hauts-de-France by 2031, in partnership with engineering giant Schneider Electric.
The broader rally reflects investor conviction in SoftBank’s strategic position at the heart of the AI economy. The group holds a significant stake in Arm Holdings, whose chip architecture underpins AI servers and data centres worldwide. It has also ploughed more than $30 billion into OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, recording investment gains of $45 billion in the year ended March 2026. In May, SoftBank reported a consolidated net profit of Â¥5,002.2 billion for fiscal year 2025, a record for any Japanese company. The group is also promoting Stargate, a joint project with OpenAI to build AI data centres across the United States.
Toyota’s shares, by contrast, fell nearly 5% on the same day, weighed down by macroeconomic headwinds, a strong yen, and slowing momentum in the global automotive sector. The Nikkei 225 briefly crossed the 67,000 mark for the first time in history, with SoftBank accounting for roughly 87% of the index’s record-setting daily gain.
Markets will now watch whether SoftBank can sustain the momentum. Analysts caution that its heavy leverage, concentration in private holdings, and dependence on OpenAI’s continued cash-burn trajectory represent meaningful risks. Upcoming shareholder meetings and anticipated IPO timelines for portfolio companies are expected to be key near-term catalysts.
