SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son's plan to invest billions in AI in the United States shows one way to handle the new Trump administration: go big and deal with the details later. For a Japan Inc anxious ab

Tokyo stocks were sharply higher Wednesday morning, led by rises in SoftBank Group following news it would be part of a massive artif

Tokyo stocks ended sharply higher Wednesday, driven by gains in semiconductor-related shares following news that SoftBank Group will

SoftBank in India, like in many other parts of the world, is known for its investment in budding startups in various technologically driven avenues. On Wednesday, January 22, the company shares soared in the equity markets in Tokyo. The shares of the Japanese investment group rose after getting a much-needed boost from an unlikely source.

Shares in Japanese tech behemoth SoftBank Group soared more than eight percent on Wednesday after US President Donald Trump announced a major investment to build AI infrastructure.

The rapid development of AI systems over the past two years has stretched American infrastructure, with data centres emerging as a particular bottleneck. Cutting-edge chatbots such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini and Anthropic’s Claude require enormous amounts of data and computing power to train and run.

Netflix, Oracle and other technology stocks are lifting U.S. indexes as their profits pile higher and excitement builds around the moneymaking prospects of artificial intelligence. The S&P 500 rose 0.

The S&P 500 was up 0.6% in midday trading and on track for its sixth gain in the last seven days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 68 points, or 0.2%, as of 10:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.2% higher.

The major U.S. index futures are currently pointing to a higher open on Wednesday, with stocks likely to add to the gains posted in

Masayoshi Son, the Japanese tycoon helming US President Donald Trump's big new AI push, is the son of an immigrant pig farmer with a spectacular but also sketchy investment record.

Softbank will have "financial responsibility" for the project with Masayoshi Son serving as the chairman of the venture, news that drove the stock (JP:9984) 11% higher in Tokyo. SoftBank's top holding, ARM (ARM), will be one of the technology partners, alongside companies including Oracle (ORCL) and Nvidia (NVDA).