Japans Stock Market Reaches New Record Amid Growing Interest in Artificial Intelligence

Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index Surpasses 68,000 for First Time

The Nikkei 225 index rose nearly 3 percent on Wednesday, surpassing the 68,000 mark for the first time. This marks a significant milestone in Japan’s stock market, which has seen substantial gains this year. As of mid-2026, the benchmark index is up approximately 33 percent.

According to Khoon Goh, head of Asia research at ANZ, investor enthusiasm over the AI boom is contributing to the upward trend in Asian equity markets. The strong demand for high-end chips, particularly from top semiconductor companies in Taiwan and South Korea, has also had a positive impact on Japanese markets. A weak yen has further added to the tailwind.

Several Japanese firms involved in the semiconductor business led the gains, including Tokyo Electron, which saw its shares rise as much as 14 percent, and Advantest, whose stock rose more than 5.5 percent. Shin-Etsu Chemical, a supplier of silicon wafers used in integrated circuits, also gained about 4 percent.

Notably, Softbank’s decline of around 3 percent follows its recent takeover of Toyota to become Japan’s largest company by market capitalization. The ferocious demand for AI chips has driven record-breaking rallies in stock markets globally, with key indexes in the US, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan reaching new highs. In recent months, three memory chip makers – SK Hynix, Samsung Electronics, and Micron – have entered the exclusive club of firms with a market capitalization of at least $1 trillion.

Tech companies continue to invest heavily in AI-related infrastructure, with US tech giants expected to spend around $800 billion on such investments in 2026. Alphabet, the parent company of Google, has also announced its plans to sell $80 billion worth of shares to fund its expected capital expenditures of $180-190 billion in 2026.

Source: Al Jazeera