SoftBank has surpassed Toyota to become Japan's most valuable company by market capitalization, driven by surging demand for AI technologies. The company's stock has climbed nearly 73% this year, reaching a new peak on Monday with an over 8% gain. This rise follows SoftBank's commitment to invest up to €75 billion in France for an AI computing cluster network. As a result, SoftBank's market cap has exceeded ¥46 trillion ($288 billion), while Toyota's fell nearly 4.5% on Monday, dropping below ¥46 trillion. The shift in market leadership highlights the growing influence of AI in Japan's stock market, with SoftBank leveraging its significant stake in OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, to capitalize on the trend. Toyota, which had been Japan's most valuable company since 2003, saw its market cap decline from slightly above ¥48 trillion at the close of last week.