Oracle Wins $300 Billion AI Computing Contract, Fueling 10% SoftBank Stock Surge

TradingKey - On Thursday, SoftBank Group's stock price surged nearly 10% in the Japanese market, driven by positive sentiment surrounding U.S. tech giant Oracle's strong performance and surging demand for artificial intelligence cloud services, becoming the core driving force behind the Nikkei Average Stock Price Index climbing to a new historical high.

The Nikkei index closed at 44,396.95 points on Thursday, setting a new historical closing record, aligning with the previous night's Wall Street tech stock leadership.

Oracle's stock price soared nearly 36% in overnight U.S. trading, marking the largest single-day percentage gain since 1992. Oracle revealed it had signed several multi-billion-dollar cloud infrastructure contracts in its latest quarter and expects more such large transactions to be finalized in the coming months.

Notably, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that OpenAI has signed a computing agreement with Oracle potentially worth up to $300 billion, which could become one of the largest cloud computing contracts ever.

As a key strategic partner of Oracle, SoftBank Group's stock price responded accordingly in Japan, reflecting investors' strong recognition of the synergistic effects and future growth potential between both companies in the AI sector.

Yugo Tsuboi, Chief Strategist at Daiwa Securities, stated: "Following Oracle's stock surge due to robust growth expectations for its cloud business, market expectations for SoftBank's related operations have also intensified; this has been a critical factor driving up the Nikkei index."

Andrew Jackson, Head of Japan Equity Strategy at Ortus Advisors, echoed this view, stating that investors have keenly captured the strategic synergy between SoftBank and Oracle, especially the potential collaboration space under the "Stargate" initiative framework, which has provided strong upward momentum for SoftBank's stock price.

Long-term AI investor SoftBank has broadly positioned its Vision Fund across the AI sector. Previous investment returns from chip giants like NVIDIA and multiple AI startups have already helped SoftBank turn a profit this fiscal quarter, while substantial progress on the "Stargate" project has further strengthened market optimism about its AI strategy.