Nikkei 225 Tops 68,000 for First Time as Semiconductor Stocks Surge and SoftBank Falls

The Nikkei 225 rose nearly 3 percent on June 2, 2026, lifting the benchmark above 68,000 for the first time. Japanese firms tied to semiconductor production led the advance. Tokyo Electron gained as much as 14 percent in morning trading.

5 percent, and Shin-Etsu Chemical added about 4 percent. Softbank fell about 3 percent after it overtook Toyota on June 1 to become Japan’s largest company by market capitalisation. Japan’s stock market has risen nearly 33 percent so far in 2026.

Khoon Goh, head of Asia research at ANZ, said investor enthusiasm over the AI boom is helping drive Asian equity markets higher. He added that strong demand for high-end chips has lifted semiconductor companies in Taiwan and South Korea and is also benefiting Japanese markets, which are receiving some support from a weak yen.

Ferocious demand for AI chips has pushed key indexes in the United States, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan to record highs.

During the past month, SK Hynix, Samsung Electronics and Micron each reached a market capitalisation of at least $1 trillion. Only 17 companies have ever reached that level, and 12 of them are based in the United States. US tech giants are expected to spend about $800 billion on AI-related capital investment in 2026, according to Goldman Sachs.

Alphabet announced on June 1 that it would sell $80 billion worth of shares to help fund expected capital expenditures of $180-190 billion this year. Japanese firms involved in the semiconductor business led the gains on June 2.