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The Tokyo-based maker of NAND flash memory and solid-state drives has become one of the most closely watched stocks on the Tokyo Stock Exchange after a sharp rally tied to demand for data-centre storage, AI servers and high-performance memory systems. Its market capitalisation has climbed into the tens of trillions of yen, placing it near Toyota and behind SoftBank Group in a reshuffled ranking that would have seemed unlikely when Kioxia priced its initial public offering at 1,455 yen a share in December 2024.

The shift marks a wider challenge to the long-standing dominance of Japan’s manufacturing champions. Toyota, the global carmaker that symbolised the strength of Japan Inc. for decades, has been displaced from the top position by SoftBank during the latest AI-led surge, while Kioxia has risen rapidly from a former Toshiba memory unit backed by Bain Capital into a central player in the market’s technology rotation.

Kioxia’s climb reflects investor expectations that memory will remain a bottleneck in AI infrastructure. Generative AI systems require vast amounts of storage and high-speed data movement, pushing demand beyond the older cycle driven mainly by smartphones and personal computers. Data-centre operators, cloud companies and chip designers are competing for components needed to train and run large AI models, giving memory producers stronger pricing power after years of volatility.

The company’s earnings have strengthened sharply. Kioxia has projected operating profit of about 1.3 trillion yen for the April-June quarter, a figure that puts it among the most profitable listed companies in Japan. Its latest annual results showed strong momentum in revenue, margins and cash generation, helping ease earlier concerns about debt and cyclicality. Rating upgrades to investment grade have added to the perception that the balance sheet is improving at a time when investors are rewarding semiconductor exposure.

Kioxia’s origins give its rise broader industrial significance. The company traces its roots to Toshiba’s memory business, which was sold to a Bain-led consortium in 2018 after Toshiba’s financial crisis. The group was renamed Kioxia in 2019, drawing on the Japanese word for memory and the Greek word for value. Its public listing in 2024 valued it below 800 billion yen, after earlier IPO attempts were delayed by weak valuation conditions and pressure in the memory market.

That cautious debut contrasts sharply with its current status. Shares have multiplied as investors reassessed the role of NAND flash in AI systems, especially as large-scale data centres require higher storage density, faster access and more energy-efficient hardware. Kioxia has also been developing advanced BiCS FLASH technology and promoting next-generation SSDs for AI storage infrastructure.

The rally has also lifted questions over valuation risk. Memory chips remain one of the semiconductor industry’s most cyclical segments, with prices exposed to shifts in capital spending, inventory levels and customer demand. A sharp rise in market value leaves Kioxia vulnerable if hyperscaler investment slows, if competitors add capacity faster than expected, or if customers push back against higher pricing.

Competition is intense. Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, Micron Technology and SanDisk remain key players across memory markets, with SK Hynix holding a dominant position in high-bandwidth memory used in AI accelerators. Kioxia’s strength is more closely tied to NAND flash and SSDs, where demand from AI infrastructure has broadened the market but does not eliminate the risk of oversupply once new capacity comes on stream.

Toyota’s relative decline in the rankings does not point to operational weakness alone. The carmaker remains one of the world’s largest manufacturers by sales and a major profit generator, but investors have been rotating away from traditional industrial leaders towards companies with direct AI exposure. Concerns over electric-vehicle competition, currency movements and the cost of future technologies have weighed on auto valuations, even as Toyota continues to command global scale in hybrid vehicles and supply-chain management.

SoftBank’s ascent has further highlighted the changing market narrative. Its exposure to Arm and AI-related investments has drawn investors seeking Japan-based access to global AI infrastructure. Together, SoftBank and Kioxia now represent a market story centred on chips, data centres, software platforms and computing capacity rather than the export-led industrial model that long defined Japan’s equity market.

Foreign investor flows have amplified the shift. Japan’s equity market has benefited from corporate-governance reforms, stronger capital returns and renewed interest in companies linked to the AI supply chain. The Nikkei 225 has reached record territory, though the rally has been uneven, with gains concentrated in a limited group of technology-linked names while broader market performance has been more mixed.

Kioxia’s next test will be whether it can convert favourable pricing and sold-out capacity into durable earnings. Investors will look for clearer shareholder-return plans, disciplined capital expenditure and evidence that AI storage demand can remain strong beyond the current investment wave. The company’s contemplated US share listing would widen access to global technology investors and could further raise its profile if market conditions remain supportive.

The shift reflects a sharp change in investor preference after months of underperformance by Hong Kong equities against mainland peers. Mainland investors sold about HK$3.6 billion of Hong Kong shares through the trading links last month, the first monthly net outflow since June 2023 and one of only a small number of monthly selling episodes since the southbound channel became a key route for mainland money into the city’s market.

The move is striking because southbound buying has been one of the strongest supports for Hong Kong stocks over the past year. Mainland funds poured into high-dividend banks, telecoms groups, energy companies and internet platforms during earlier phases of the rally, helping offset caution among global investors. That support is now weakening as domestic funds chase companies tied to AI infrastructure, chips, optical modules, software and computing power.

Onshore AI shares have delivered a stronger performance than Hong Kong’s technology benchmarks this year. The CSI Artificial Intelligence Index has risen sharply, while the Hang Seng Tech Index has lagged, weighed down by concerns over platform margins, heavy spending on AI models and pressure from subsidy battles in e-commerce and online services. The divergence has encouraged active money managers and retail traders to reassess whether Hong Kong-listed internet giants still offer the most attractive exposure to China’s technology story.

The change in flows also comes as Beijing’s industrial policy continues to favour advanced manufacturing, domestic semiconductors, large language models and high-end computing. Companies linked to AI servers, data centres, optical communications, robotics and chip design have become favoured market proxies for China’s effort to reduce dependence on foreign technology. That policy backdrop has helped support valuations even as questions persist over earnings visibility, capital expenditure demands and competition.

Cambricon Technologies, Zhongji Innolight, Kingsoft Office, iFlytek and other mainland-listed technology names have been among the companies watched closely by investors seeking domestic AI exposure. Hong Kong still hosts major technology groups such as Tencent, Alibaba, Baidu, Meituan and Xiaomi, but the market’s heavyweight structure makes it more exposed to mature platform businesses than to the faster-growing AI hardware and infrastructure supply chain favoured by onshore traders.

Hong Kong’s role as a fundraising centre remains intact despite the outflow. The city has continued to attract listings from technology, healthcare, robotics and semiconductor-related companies, while mainland firms still view it as the most practical offshore venue for raising international capital. Several AI and chip-linked companies are preparing or considering Hong Kong share sales, suggesting the city remains central to China’s capital market architecture even as secondary-market money rotates elsewhere.

The weakness in southbound appetite also reflects broader caution over Hong Kong valuations after a strong earlier advance. Investors who bought the market for dividends and policy support are locking in gains while seeking higher-beta opportunities at home. The shift does not necessarily point to a structural rejection of Hong Kong stocks, but it does show that mainland money is becoming more selective after helping drive earlier momentum.

Regulatory pressure on offshore investment channels may also be influencing behaviour. Authorities have tightened scrutiny of unauthorised cross-border trading accounts and offshore brokerage activity, reinforcing the appeal of regulated domestic routes. While Stock Connect remains an approved mechanism, wider efforts to keep capital within supervised channels have added another layer of sensitivity around outbound allocations.

Market analysts say the key question is whether the AI-led onshore rally can broaden beyond a narrow group of highly valued companies. China’s AI supply chain is benefiting from state support, falling model costs and growing enterprise adoption, but investors face risks from crowded positioning, uneven profitability and rapid technological shifts. Several AI-linked companies still trade more on expectations than on proven earnings, leaving the sector vulnerable to volatility if sentiment turns.

The stock climbed about 6 per cent on Tuesday as investors reacted to signs that Tencent is moving closer to embedding a task-performing assistant inside WeChat, the messaging, payments and social platform used by more than 1.4 billion people. The prototype is designed to help users complete everyday actions within the app, including finding venues, interacting with mini-programmes and placing customised orders, rather than merely answering questions in chatbot form.

The planned agent would mark a significant step in Tencent’s push to convert its AI investments into consumer products at scale. WeChat already functions as a digital operating system for daily life in China, covering messaging, payments, shopping, food delivery, public services, entertainment, ride-hailing and enterprise communication. That reach gives Tencent an advantage that few rivals can match: a single platform with a vast user base, heavy daily engagement and a dense network of third-party services.

People familiar with the prototype have indicated that users would be able to access the AI agent through a swipe gesture on the main WeChat screen. Tencent is expected to begin the regulatory compliance process before wider testing, with a small group of external users likely to receive access before any phased public launch. A firm release date has not been set, reflecting both regulatory uncertainty and the technical demands of deploying agentic AI across a platform of WeChat’s size.

The market response underscores how investors are reassessing Tencent’s AI position after months of concern that the company was trailing Alibaba, ByteDance and Baidu in the race to commercialise generative AI. Tencent has promoted Yuanbao, its AI chatbot, developed its Hunyuan foundation model and introduced productivity-focused AI tools, but WeChat remains the asset most capable of turning those efforts into a daily consumer habit.

Tencent’s first-quarter earnings showed both the strength and the cost of that strategy. Revenue rose 9 per cent year on year to RMB196.5 billion, while IFRS net profit attributable to equity holders increased 21 per cent to RMB58.1 billion. Marketing services revenue rose 20 per cent to RMB38.2 billion, helped by AI-driven advertising improvements, while domestic games revenue grew 6 per cent and international games revenue climbed 13 per cent. Capital expenditure reached RMB31.9 billion, up 16 per cent, as spending on AI infrastructure continued to rise.

The company has told investors that new AI products are weighing on margins, even as core businesses continue to generate strong cash flow. Excluding new AI products, non-IFRS operating profit rose 17 per cent in the first quarter, compared with a 9 per cent increase overall. That gap highlights the near-term drag from AI investment, but also explains why investors are sensitive to any sign that Tencent can place AI directly into revenue-generating services.

Competition is intensifying across China’s technology sector. Alibaba has pushed Qwen into consumer and enterprise markets, ByteDance has expanded AI features across its content ecosystem, and Baidu continues to build around Ernie and AI cloud services. The key battleground is shifting from chatbots to agents that can perform tasks, connect with apps and act across digital services with limited user input.

WeChat’s mini-programme ecosystem could be central to Tencent’s approach. Millions of merchants, developers and service providers already operate within the platform, allowing an AI agent to navigate services without pushing users outside Tencent’s environment. For merchants, an effective agent could increase conversion rates by shortening the path from search to purchase. For Tencent, it could deepen engagement, improve advertising relevance and strengthen its fintech and business services ecosystem.

Regulation remains a critical constraint. China requires generative AI services offered to the public to comply with rules covering data security, content control and algorithmic governance. Any WeChat agent would need to satisfy those requirements before broad release, especially because it could interact with payments, commerce and public services.

Shares in Masayoshi Son’s technology investment group surged in Tokyo trading, lifting its market value to about ¥47.2 trillion, or roughly $296 billion, ahead of Toyota’s ¥45.7 trillion after the carmaker’s stock fell nearly 5 per cent. The move placed SoftBank at the top of Japan’s corporate valuation table for the first time in more than two decades and added momentum to a Nikkei 225 rally that pushed the index above 67,000.

The change is more than a stock-market milestone. It reflects how the AI boom has reshaped capital allocation in Japan, where investors are assigning higher value to companies with exposure to semiconductors, data centres, power infrastructure and generative AI platforms. Toyota remains one of the world’s largest and most profitable carmakers, but its valuation is now being weighed against a slower earnings outlook, tariff pressure, currency swings and the heavy cost of electrification.

SoftBank’s advance has been driven by a powerful combination of portfolio gains and expectations that its AI-linked holdings could generate fresh liquidity. The group’s exposure to Arm, the British chip-design company it took public in 2023, has become a key pillar of its market value. Arm’s technology is used widely across smartphones, cloud computing and increasingly AI-related chips, giving SoftBank a central position in the semiconductor supply chain.

OpenAI has become the second major driver of investor attention. SoftBank has committed tens of billions of dollars to the ChatGPT developer and is positioning itself as a core financier of AI infrastructure. Expectations that OpenAI could move towards a public listing have intensified interest in SoftBank’s asset base, even as analysts continue to debate how much of the group’s valuation depends on private-market pricing and future monetisation.

The latest surge followed SoftBank’s plan to invest up to €75 billion in AI infrastructure in France, including data centres and power-intensive computing capacity. The first phase is expected to involve about €45 billion of investment to build 3.1 gigawatts of capacity by 2031, with further expansion potentially taking the total to 5 gigawatts. The project places France at the centre of Europe’s push to develop sovereign AI infrastructure, helped by its nuclear-heavy power system and available industrial sites.

SoftBank is also moving to create public-market vehicles around AI infrastructure. SB Energy, its power and data-centre platform, is preparing for a potential US listing and has been linked to a valuation above $50 billion. The company is involved in large-scale power projects designed to support AI workloads, including a 1.2-gigawatt data-centre development in Texas. A separate robotics venture, Roze, is also being prepared for a possible listing, highlighting SoftBank’s attempt to build an ecosystem around energy, construction automation and computing capacity.

Toyota’s fall in ranking does not signal operational weakness. The carmaker reported operating income of ¥3.8 trillion for the financial year ended March 2026, supported by vehicle sales and pricing power despite tariff costs and rising expenses. It remains a global force in hybrid technology, production efficiency and supply-chain management. However, investors have become more cautious about its growth outlook as the auto sector faces higher regulatory costs, slower battery-electric vehicle adoption in some markets, and intensifying competition from China-based manufacturers.

The contrast between SoftBank and Toyota captures a broader reordering of Japan’s equity market. AI-linked names, chip suppliers and infrastructure companies are drawing strong inflows, while parts of the auto sector and older industrial groups face questions over margin durability. Kioxia, the memory-chip maker, has also climbed sharply this year, showing how investor enthusiasm has spread beyond SoftBank into companies tied to storage and high-performance computing.

The rally has strengthened the profile of Son, whose investment record has swung between spectacular gains and painful losses. SoftBank’s Vision Fund suffered heavy write-downs after the collapse in technology valuations in 2021 and 2022, while earlier bets such as WeWork damaged confidence in the group’s risk controls. Its comeback has been powered by a more concentrated AI narrative, but that also leaves the shares vulnerable if expectations around OpenAI, Arm or infrastructure listings are revised lower.

By Nitya Chakraborty Facing the big possibility of China taking control of the new Junta government in Myanmar which took office last month, Indian policy makers are now very keen to give a big push to the India-Myanmar relations covering both economy and security aspects. Myanmar President U Min Aung Hlaing is in India visit […]

The article Facing Major Challenge From China, India Set To Improve Bilateral Relations With Myanmar appeared first on Latest India news, analysis and reports on Newspack by India Press Agency).

Measured across the full month with the daily rollover excluded, the Edge account averaged 0.04 pips on the majors, level with the best in the field.

RODNEY VILLAGE, SAINT LUCIA – Media OutReach Newswire – 28 May 2026 – TabTrade (tabtrade.com), a global forex and CFD broker with zero average spreads on major forex pairs, today pointed to Datalyst spread data placing the TabTrade Edge account among the lowest in the industry on the major currency pairs. Measured across the full month with the daily rollover period removed, the Edge account averaged 0.04 pips on the majors, level with the tightest average any broker recorded.

Datalyst samples spreads from more than 10,000 live trading accounts. The daily rollover window, a short period each evening when liquidity thins and spreads widen across the market, is taken out so the figure reflects active trading conditions. On that basis the Edge account averaged 0.04 pips across the majors.

In peak European hours the spread tightens to a 0.00 pip average on several majors. TabTrade reports the average rather than a best-case rate.

The Edge account runs raw spreads from 0.0 pips with a flat $3.50 commission per side and no markup on the spread. Orders route through Equinix LD5 in London, with fills averaging under 30 milliseconds.

“We would rather be judged on the average, and judged by someone other than us,” said Benjamin Boulter, Founder and CEO of TabTrade. “Once you take out the daily rollover, the Edge account sits with the best in the industry on the majors, and in peak hours it averages zero on several of them.”

Spread data is published at https://datalyst.forexco.com.au/ and Edge account details are at https://www.tabtrade.com/accounts/edge/

Hashtag: #TabTrade

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The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

About TabTrade

TabTrade is a global forex and CFD broker with zero average spreads on major forex pairs. Clients trade forex, indices, commodities, metals, shares and cryptocurrencies on MetaTrader 5 and cTrader, with a $0 minimum deposit and institutional-grade execution through Equinix LD5 data centres. TabTrade Ltd is incorporated and registered in Saint Lucia under the International Business Companies Act (Registration Number 2025-00919), and client funds are held in segregated accounts. Markets made simple.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India is examining whether companies that list only debt securities should continue to face disclosure and compliance obligations similar to those imposed on equity-listed companies. The review is part of a wider effort to deepen the corporate bond market, where heavy reliance on private placements, limited retail participation and concentration among highly rated issuers have kept market breadth below policy ambitions.

Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey, who took charge of the regulator in March 2025, has signalled that the next phase of reform will focus on making the debt market more usable for issuers and investors without weakening safeguards. A pilot framework for tokenising corporate bonds is expected to be launched within six to nine months, testing whether distributed-ledger technology can improve settlement speed, servicing, traceability and operational efficiency.

The proposed easing would be especially relevant for entities that raise money only through listed non-convertible securities and do not have listed shares. Such issuers have argued that several provisions under the Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements framework were designed primarily for equity-market governance, where public shareholders carry voting and ownership rights. Debt investors, by contrast, are focused mainly on credit quality, repayment capacity, covenant compliance and timely interest payments.

The regulatory challenge is to separate investor-useful disclosure from procedural duplication. Quarterly financials, credit-rating updates, default alerts, asset-cover statements, related-party exposure and material event reporting remain central to creditor protection. Requirements linked more closely to equity ownership, board-shareholder dynamics and public float may be reviewed where they impose costs disproportionate to the risks faced by bondholders.

India’s corporate bond market has expanded sharply but remains structurally narrow. Net outstanding corporate bonds rose from ₹17.5 trillion in FY2014-15 to about ₹53.6 trillion in FY2024-25, with fresh issuances touching ₹9.9 trillion during 2024-25. The market accounts for roughly 15-16 per cent of GDP, far below deeper Asian and developed markets, and is still dominated by highly rated financial and public-sector issuers.

Private placements remain the preferred route for large borrowers, while public bond issues account for only a small share of overall issuance. That pattern has kept institutional investors at the centre of the market and limited participation by individuals, smaller corporates and lower-rated issuers. For policymakers, the issue is not simply market size but market diversity, liquidity and the ability of bonds to finance infrastructure, housing, manufacturing and growth-stage companies at competitive rates.

Tokenisation is being positioned as a market-infrastructure experiment rather than a replacement for existing bond-market systems. Under such a model, a bond can be represented as a digital token on a permissioned ledger, with ownership transfers, coupon payments and redemption records updated through automated processes. A well-designed pilot could reduce reconciliation gaps, improve audit trails and allow faster post-trade processing while preserving regulatory oversight.

Global fixed-income markets have been exploring tokenisation for similar reasons. Automation through smart contracts can simplify issuance, settlement and corporate actions, while better record keeping can lower operational risk. The benefits, however, depend on legal clarity, interoperability with depositories and clearing systems, cyber-security standards and clear rules on investor rights if technology vendors, wallets or ledger nodes fail.

Sebi’s review also comes amid wider changes in India’s debt-market architecture. Online bond platforms have been brought under regulation, the request-for-quote platform has gained traction, and policymakers are looking at ways to widen access to international debt products through regulated channels. Municipal bonds are also drawing greater attention as cities seek market funding for infrastructure, adding to the broader shift from bank-led financing towards market-based debt.

Investor protection will remain the central test for any relaxation. Lighter disclosure rules could encourage more issuers to list debt securities, but weaker transparency would raise borrowing costs and damage confidence if defaults rise or credit risks are obscured. The most likely outcome is a calibrated framework that retains credit-critical reporting while reducing requirements that do not materially affect bondholder decisions.

Regulators have moved against Futu Securities International, Tiger Brokers and Longbridge Securities, accusing them of operating securities businesses on the mainland without approval, soliciting domestic clients and processing offshore trading orders in breach of securities, fund and futures rules. The action has disrupted a once-popular route for mainland investors seeking exposure to global technology stocks, Hong Kong initial public offerings and US-listed Chinese companies.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission and other agencies have ordered a two-year rectification programme aimed at closing unauthorised cross-border securities, futures and fund businesses. During the wind-down period, affected mainland clients will be allowed to sell existing holdings and withdraw money, but will not be permitted to make new purchases through the targeted channels.

The clampdown marks a sharp escalation from the regulatory warning issued in late 2022, when online brokers were told to stop opening new accounts for mainland investors and remove trading apps from domestic app stores. Existing clients had largely been allowed to continue trading, preserving a grey-zone channel that gave better-off retail investors access to overseas markets despite China’s capital controls.

Futu has disclosed a proposed penalty of about 1.85 billion yuan, while Tiger Brokers’ parent, UP Fintech Holding, faces penalties and confiscation of illegal income totalling more than 400 million yuan. Longbridge has said it will comply with rectification requirements and that client fund safety is not affected. Regulators have also indicated that illegal gains from related onshore and offshore entities will be confiscated, with final administrative decisions subject to formal procedures.

Market reaction was swift. Shares of Futu and UP Fintech fell sharply in US trading after the enforcement announcement, while pressure spread to parts of the Chinese ADR universe as investors assessed whether reduced mainland retail participation could weigh on offshore-listed stocks. Hong Kong market participants also began reassessing the impact on brokerage flows, custody transfers and IPO distribution.

Citic Securities has estimated that as much as HK$250 billion in assets in Hong Kong could be affected by the crackdown, with Futu accounting for a large portion. The figure underlines the scale of wealth that had moved through offshore brokerage platforms even after Beijing tightened scrutiny of capital outflows and online financial services.

Investors are now exploring alternatives, including moving positions by custodian transfer to licensed Hong Kong banking channels, using accounts with international banks, or relying on approved schemes such as Stock Connect, the Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor programme and Wealth Management Connect. Those channels, however, have limits on eligibility, investment scope, quotas and product access, making them less flexible than the digital brokerage platforms that gained popularity during the pandemic-era boom in US and Hong Kong equities.

Beijing’s concern is not only securities law compliance. The wider policy objective is to control capital outflows, strengthen oversight of retail investment activity and prevent unlicensed overseas institutions from marketing financial products inside the mainland. The campaign also aligns with efforts to support domestic capital markets, where authorities have been trying to stabilise sentiment and encourage household savings to flow into regulated local investment products.

For the brokers, the enforcement action threatens an important part of their client base. Futu and Tiger expanded rapidly by offering low-cost, mobile-first access to overseas securities, appealing to younger and wealthier mainland clients who wanted exposure beyond A-shares. Both companies have been diversifying into Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Australia and the United States, but mainland-linked business remains material to investor perceptions of their growth prospects.

The crackdown may also reshape Hong Kong’s role as a financial gateway. Licensed institutions could benefit from account transfers and higher compliance-driven demand, but regulators in the city are expected to scrutinise whether account-opening documents, residency claims and fund-transfer routes meet legal requirements. That could raise operational costs and slow onboarding for brokers and banks serving mainland-related clients.