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On February 3, 2025, in Tokyo, Japan, Masayoshi Son, the CEO of SoftBank Group, addressed a gathering at an event called “Transforming Business through AI.” During this event, SoftBank and OpenAI revealed a new partnership to establish a joint venture focused on AI services within Japan.
Image Credit: Tomohiro Ohsumi | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Japanese technology stocks experienced a significant downturn on Thursday, influenced by concerns about AI infrastructure spending that originated from Wall Street and impacted Asian markets. Stocks related to AI saw notable declines.
SoftBank Group Corp emerged as a leading decliner on the Nikkei 225, dropping by as much as 7.25%. The Nikkei 225, a benchmark index, led losses in the Asian region, decreasing by 1.23%. SoftBank managed to recover some ground, trading 3% lower subsequently.
This downward trend follows a 1.81% fall in the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite overnight, which was affected by declines in companies like Oracle, Broadcom, and Nvidia, all associated with AI advancements.
Oracle’s downturn was linked to a report by the Financial Times, which indicated that Blue Owl Capital’s plans to back Oracle’s $10 billion Michigan data center had faced setbacks. Previously, Oracle had disputed claims suggesting delays in certain projects for AI giant OpenAI until 2028.
Tech-focused SoftBank has seen sharp volatility in its stock over the past month as fears over AI-related spending have gripped the market.
At the start of the year, the group had revealed plans to invest $500 billion in AI infrastructure in the U.S. along with OpenAI, Oracle and other partners, and in September it announced five new U.S. AI data center sites under Stargate, OpenAI’s overarching AI infrastructure platform.
Other Japanese tech stocks also fell. Semiconductor equipment supplier Advantest, dropped as much as 5%. Counterparts Lasertec, Renesas Electronics and Tokyo Electron declined between 3% and 4%.
Jesper Koll, expert director at Tokyo-based financial services firm Monex Group, said much of what goes into data centers, power centers, and AI hardware enablers is “Made in Japan, and can only be made in Japan.” That makes Japanese tech, especially AI-related stocks more vulnerable to any worries around U.S. tech spending.
On Wednesday, Japan’s trade numbers showed that exports of electrical machinery jumped 7.4%, and semiconductor-related exports surged 13% year on year. Koll said the U.S.-led boom in tech spending was translating into growing exports of specialized machinery and equipment.
Losses were less pronounced in South Korean chip heavyweight Samsung Electronics at 0.93%, while SK Hynix reversed course to gain 0.73%. Taiwan’s TSMC, the world’s largest contract chip manufacturer, was marginally down.
