The AI boom has not spread uniformly across Japan’s economy as a whole. Movements in stock indexes reveal that its effects are concentrated in specific industries and companies. The degree of increase differs significantly across three indicators, including the Nikkei Average and TOPIX.
The article compares and examines how extensively the AI boom has spread through the Japanese market, based on first-half movements in the Nikkei Average, TOPIX, and the Standard Market Index and Growth Market Index. While the Nikkei Average remained soft rather than rising, there were periods when gains in AI- and semiconductor-related stocks drove the broader market higher.
The Nikkei Stock Average closed approximately ¥2,100 lower than the previous day at ¥65,362.42. TOPIX, meanwhile, is considered an indicator of broad movements in the Japanese stock market and is influenced not only by AI-related developments but also by overall market trends.
TOPIX rose approximately 12% in the first half of this year, while the Standard Market Index and Growth Market Index, calculated using the same method, rose only around 5–6%. This suggests that the AI boom has not uniformly energized the Japanese market as a whole.
In conclusion, although the current AI boom is at times linked to movements in the US market, in Japan it is analyzed as a phenomenon strongly reflected in the share prices of specific industries and companies, with pronounced concentration rather than broad-based market revitalization.