SoftBank set to dethrone Toyota as Japan’s most valuable company

SoftBank Group Corp. is poised to overtake Toyota Motor Corp. as Japan’s most valuable company, marking a milestone for the global artificial intelligence boom and a dramatic reshuffling of the country’s corporate hierarchy.

Shares of the Masayoshi Son-led technology group climbed as much as 10% in Tokyo trading Monday, as AI-related shares climbed across the region. SoftBank shares have been gaining since news broke that two high-profile portfolio companies - OpenAI and SB Energy Corp. - were preparing for potential US listings. Toyota meanwhile dropped as much as 4.9%.

The surge has propelled SoftBank shares up more than 80% this year, pushing the company’s market value above ¥46 trillion ($288 billion), higher than Toyota’s around ¥45.8 trillion. Toyota shares, by contrast, have fallen more than 10% this year.

The changing of the guard underscores how rapidly investor tastes have shifted toward companies that are benefiting from the AI buildout. 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 takes hold.

If the gains hold through the close, SoftBank will surpass Toyota in market value for the first time in more than two decades, a feat that it only briefly achieved back at the peak of Japan’s internet bubble in 2000.