Nikkei breaks 68,000 for first time as AI, chip stocks surge

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed at a record high Wednesday, driven by gains in AI and semiconductor stocks.

The Nikkei ended the day up 1,667 points, or 2.5 percent, at 68,402.13 — crossing the 68,000 threshold for the first time in history.

The Topix, a broader index based on the total market capitalization of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, also set a new all-time closing high at 3,996.20.

Wednesday's session also saw Toyota Motor — Japan's largest company by market cap for more than two decades — face a challenge to its No. 2 ranking after SoftBank Group recently overtook it for the top spot amid a frenzy of AI investment.

Shares of memory chipmaker Kioxia surged 7 percent to 83,140 yen on the day, briefly pushing its market cap above 45 trillion yen (about 427 trillion won).

That temporarily reshuffled Japan's market cap rankings to SoftBank Group, Kioxia and Toyota in that order. Kioxia shares then pulled back to 78,690 yen as of 10:03 a.m., allowing Toyota to reclaim second place.

Toyota shares closed up 1.30 percent at 2,881 yen, securing its position as the second-largest listed company by market cap.

The Nikkei newspaper said Kioxia's share gains were supported by remarks the company made at an investor briefing held the previous day, where it mentioned considering a progressive dividend policy — maintaining or increasing payouts — as well as share buybacks.

At the briefing, Kioxia said long-term supply contracts with NAND flash memory customers were increasing and said its recent earnings expansion was not a temporary phenomenon.

Capital has been flowing rapidly into AI-related stocks on the Tokyo market, with SoftBank Group among the primary beneficiaries.

The market cap of Murata Manufacturing, which makes multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCC) used in AI data centers, briefly topped 20 trillion yen (about 190 trillion won) during morning trading.