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August 15, 2025
 

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SOFTBANK

PayPay is the most popular payment app in Japan, with 70 million users.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 15, 2025
SoftBank's PayPay prepares for listing on a U.S. exchange
It has filed registration documents with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
SoftBank Group has emerged as the unnamed buyer of Foxconn Technology Group’s electric vehicle plant in Ohio and plans to incorporate the facility into its $500 billion Stargate data center project with OpenAI and Oracle.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 12, 2025
SoftBank shares surge on AI hope and sign of Stargate progress
The firm's emergence as the unnamed buyer of Foxconn's electric vehicle plant in Ohio is spurring optimism that it may be able to kick-start its stalled endeavor.
A monitor shows the morning closing value of the Topix index hitting a fresh record, trading above 3,000 for the first time, on Friday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 8, 2025
Japan index hits record high on earnings boost as other Asian markets ease
The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average went up 2% and the Topix index hit a fresh record, trading above 3,000 for the first time.
SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son
BUSINESS
Aug 7, 2025
SoftBank swings to profit after Masayoshi Son’s AI bets pay off
SoftBank Group swung to a quarterly profit, riding on gains from its bets on Nvidia and startups in a boon for founder Masayoshi Son’s bets on artificial intelligence technologies.
Reflecting CEO Masayoshi Son's artificial intelligence-focused strategy, SoftBank Group has boosted its stakes in Nvidia and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 5, 2025
SoftBank builds Nvidia and TSMC stakes under Son’s focus on AI gear
SoftBank Group raised its stake in Nvidia to about $3 billion by the end of March and bought around $330 million worth of TSMC shares.
U.S. President Donald Trump celebrates after signing executive orders on artificial intelligence at the “Winning the AI Race” Summit in Washington on July 23.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Aug 1, 2025
Will Trump’s tech policies propel U.S. success against China?
As China mobilizes all its resources for an all-out contest for technological supremacy, the U.S. cannot afford economic inefficiencies and to push its closest partners away.
Mizuho expects AI technology will help the company increase revenue and cut costs, resulting in positive effects totaling ¥300 billion by fiscal 2030.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 18, 2025
Mizuho partners with SoftBank on AI to boost efficiency
Mizuho will be the first in the financial sector to introduce artificial intelligence that is being developed jointly by SoftBank and OpenAI.
Japanese companies are heading overseas to borrow as their local market is becoming too volatile and rates are rising.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 17, 2025
Japan Inc. takes global credit by storm with record sales
More and more Japanese companies are heading overseas to borrow as their local market is becoming too volatile and rates are rising.
SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son (left) with OpenAI chief Sam Altman via video link
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 16, 2025
Masayoshi Son and Sam Altman see no end to AI demand and scaling
The two business partners argued that advancing AI would lead to new jobs that are not yet imagined, and the advancement of robotics will help kickstart a "self-improvement” loop.
The Federal Trade Commission has opened an in-depth investigation of SoftBank Group's acquisition of semiconductor designer Ampere Computing.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 2, 2025
SoftBank’s Ampere deal now faces a more in-depth review by FTC
SoftBank’s acquisition of semiconductor designer Ampere Computing is facing a potentially lengthy probe by the U.S. government.
Softbank Corp. is offering $1 billion of dollar bonds in the unit’s first U.S. high-grade deal.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 1, 2025
SoftBank unit set to raise $1 billion from its first dollar bond
SoftBank Corp.’s five- and 10-year notes are set to respectively price 0.9 and 1.10 percentage points above Treasuries.
SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son speaks during the company's annual general meeting in Tokyo on Friday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 27, 2025
Masayoshi Son hints at succession plan while chasing AI ambition
Son said he plans to hold SoftBank’s reins another 10 years, but added he has several candidates for its next chief in mind.
Softbank has invested $15 million in a startup's climate monitoring stations that are designed to capture real-time data on wildfires, flooding and greenhouse gases.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 26, 2025
SoftBank backs startup building giant floating climate stations
The massive, bullet-shaped helium balloons will monitor climate data and bring connectivity to hard-to-reach areas.
SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son and his OpenAI counterpart, Sam Altman, attend an event to pitch AI for businesses in Tokyo in early February. The SoftBank founder is now proposing his most ambitious venture yet — a $1 trillion AI and robotics hub in Arizona.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 24, 2025
The magical thinking of Masa Son
The race to lead the world in AI-enabled robots is still in the early stages, but many signs point to China coming out on top.
SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son at Donald Trump's resort in Florida in December last year
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 20, 2025
Masayoshi Son pitches $1 trillion U.S. AI hub to TSMC and Trump team
Son envisions a version of the vast manufacturing hub of China’s Shenzhen that would bring back high-tech manufacturing to the U.S.
SoftBank Group has sold 21.5 million T-Mobile U.S. shares for $224 each in an unregistered overnight block sale.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 17, 2025
SoftBank raises $4.8 billion through T-Mobile share sale
The Japanese technology giant sold 21.5 million T-Mobile shares for $224 each in an unregistered overnight block sale.
SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son has proposed setting up a U.S.-Japan sovereign wealth fund to make large investments in technology and infrastructure, according to the Financial Times.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 25, 2025
Softbank’s Son floats idea of U.S.-Japan sovereign wealth fund, report says
SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son has discussed the plan with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, although it hasn’t been formally proposed.
SoftBank Group’s investments in AI will be financed through a loan in which Mizuho Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking and JPMorgan Chase serve as lead underwriters, highlighting the Japanese tech investor's ability to secure funding for its outsize ambitions.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 21, 2025
SoftBank taps Mizuho, SMBC and JPMorgan to lead $15 billion loan
The move is a sign of the Japanese tech investor’s ability to secure financing for its outsize ambitions.
An expected collaboration between Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and SoftBank will see the PayPay smartphone payment service being made available via the Olive general financial app provided by Sumitomo Mitsui Banking.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 14, 2025
Sumitomo Mitsui and SoftBank to tie up on digital payment services
The PayPay smartphone payment service operated by a SoftBank affiliate will be made available in Sumitomo Mitsui Banking's Olive app under the partnership.
SoftBank Group reported net income of ¥517.18 billion ($3.5 billion) in its fiscal fourth quarter, helped by the Vision Fund, which swung to a profit of ¥26.1 billion.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 14, 2025
SoftBank profit doubles as AI demand boosts chip sales and startups
The results come as SoftBank plans to invest $30 billion in OpenAI while leading a $100 billion foray into building AI hardware in the U.S.
The indelible memory of being a part of Unit 731
Hideo Shimizu, 95, says he cannot forget seeing the prisoners' bloody wills scribbled on the walls of prison cells at Unit 731 in 1945.
Will Wakatakakage bring balance to the banzuke?
Wakatakakage during a ring entering ceremony in February 2020
Taiwanese drama 'Zero Day Attack' on Chinese invasion to stream in Japan
A scene from the Taiwanese television drama "Zero Day Attack," which will stream in Japan from Friday.
Japanese star convicted of indecent assault in Hong Kong
J-pop idol Kenshin Kamimura leaves the West Kowloon Law Courts on bail in Hong Kong on Wednesday, after he was found guilty of indecent assault of a woman who worked as his interpreter at a restaurant in Mong Kok district in March this year.
Ukraine war has transformed North Korean military: Kyiv’s military intel chief
An explosion of a drone lights up the sky over Kyiv during a Russian drone strike, on July 30. Moscow has dispatched military specialists to train the Korean People’s Army on how to use combat drones and air-defense systems.
The indelible memory of being a part of Unit 731
Hideo Shimizu, 95, says he cannot forget seeing the prisoners' bloody wills scribbled on the walls of prison cells at Unit 731 in 1945.
Will Ishiba's critics be able to garner enough support for a leadership race?
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's political survival likely hinges on whether a leadership race will take place within the Liberal Democratic Party following its decision to have its election committee canvass the opinions of party members and prefectural chapters on the subject.
Hidden rosters and the legacy of Japan’s germ warfare
Katsutoshi Takegami, 77, in his storehouse attic where he discovered his father's Unit 1644 documents
Osaka Expo highlights the challenge of holding events in Japan's scorching summer
People huddle near a large fan blowing icy-cold mist at the Osaka Expo on July 12. Amid Japan's relentless summer heat, organizes have put myriad measures in place in order to keep guests safe.
At Himawari Shokudo 2, Italian food with a Japanese soul
At Himawari Shokudo 2, chef Hozumi Tanaka serves Italian-inspired fare with a focus on Toyama produce, such as this appetizer of lightly blanched "hotaru ika" (firefly squid) served atop mixed wild plants and a crepe prepared from "yamato-imo" yam.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Members of the nonprofit group Japan Youth Memorial Association search for the remains of dead soldiers in a cave in Okinawa Prefecture in February.
The long search for Japan’s lost soldiers
By Tomoko Otake

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