Japan

Rocket Lab Corporation announced a multi-year agreement to launch 20 new Electron missions from Launch Complex 1 for Synspective, carrying StriX synthetic aperture radar satellites to sun-synchronous orbit annually from 2028 through 2031. The contract is the largest commercial launch deal for Electron so far and lifts Rocket Lab's backlog above 100 missions, deepening its role in building Synspective's global Earth-imaging constellation. The deal reinforces Electron's position as a high-cadence small-launch workhorse and slightly reduces near-term lumpiness risk in the launch book, though the key near-term catalyst and risk remain Neutron test progress and ongoing cash burn. Rocket Lab's US$1.944 billion equity raise to fund the pending Iridium acquisition shows management leaning on the balance sheet to expand into higher-value space systems and communications, amplifying the benefits of large multi-year contracts like Synspective's while raising the stakes around dilution and execution. Analysts had already modeled revenue near US$2.2 billion and earnings around US$365 million by 2029 on the optimistic side, against a more cautious consensus that treats cash burn and contract lumpiness as core risks.

President Donald Trump's aggressive trade policy has produced a mixed bag for American auto manufacturing, with analysts describing the gains as incremental rather than decisive. Since Trump returned to the White House, General Motors, Toyota, Ford and other carmakers have announced plans to expand US plants or shift production from overseas, navigating measures such as a 25-percent levy on imported autos. Toyota announced a $3.6 billion expansion of a San Antonio plant as it moves Tacoma pickup production from Mexico to San Antonio, while GM's $4 billion investments in Michigan, Kansas and Tennessee are not expected to lift US auto production until around 2030. Stephanie Brinley, an automotive analyst at Mobility Global, called the lift from Trump's tariffs a partial win, and industry experts view the unsettled nature of the trade measures as a hindrance to bigger wins, most recently in the dust-up between the United States and Canada that has clouded the prospects of the USMCA. Investment by auto suppliers plunged from more than $8 billion in the first quarter of 2025 to around $600 million in the two subsequent quarters before recovering somewhat, according to data from the Center for Automotive Research, whose industry economist Tyler Harp said suppliers are more exposed to tariffs and less able to absorb them than automakers. US auto employment stood at just under 1.8 million workers in September, almost one percent more than in January 2025 but more than two percent below the July 2024 peak, and Global Mobility projects US car production will be 10 million vehicles in 2026, rising to around 11.3 million in 2030.

Metaplanet acquired former Siiibo Securities, which handles privately placed corporate bonds, for 210 million yen and changed its name to Metaplanet Securities in July; the subsidiary securities firm recounted the two months leading up to the acquisition. On September 29, the Financial Services Agency announced it would support a pilot program using stablecoins for trade settlement, with six companies participating: TradeWaltz, NTT Data, Mizuho Bank, MUFG Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, and Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking. On September 28, Coinbase announced on X that it will soon offer a service allowing users to open Pokémon card packs on smartphones. On October 2, Metaplanet corrected a total of four documents including previously filed annual securities reports, revising a statement that CEO Simon Gerovich indirectly holds a majority of voting rights in shareholder MMXX Ventures Limited to clarify that he does not hold a majority. On September 30, KDDI, au Coincheck Digital Assets, and HashPort announced they will begin offering the crypto asset wallet αU wallet as a mini app within the au PAY app.

AI-related investment is generating unusually large spillover effects across the U.S. economy, according to UBS research, with every 1 percentage-point contribution to growth from AI-related investment generating about 1.46 percentage points of investment growth in the following quarter. UBS economist Arend Kapteyn said in a Sept. 25 research note that AI-related technology investment is growing about 30% year over year, while other business fixed investment has risen just 0.8% and residential investment has contracted 3.8%. Of the 1.46 percentage points, 0.46 percentage points comes from continued investment within AI-related categories, 0.30 percentage points through software and research and development, and 0.69 percentage points through other sectors. UBS defines its AI investment proxy across five national accounts categories — electrical transmission and distribution equipment, special industry machinery, computers and peripherals, communications equipment and data centres — which together account for roughly 18% of non-residential fixed investment and about 2.5% of GDP. The spillover is particularly visible in industries supplying data-centre infrastructure, including gas turbines, electricity infrastructure and utilities, and UBS also pointed to less obvious beneficiaries such as Japan's TOTO, whose electrostatic chucks for semiconductor production now account for more than half of the company's profits. The multiplier effect has strengthened over time, with the estimated contribution from a 1 percentage-point increase in AI-related capital expenditure rising from 88 basis points in 1980 to 106 basis points in 2000 and 146 basis points by June 2026.

The Trump administration has selected 10 companies, including AbbVie, Amgen, Pfizer, and GSK, for a new pilot program that tests a rebate model for drugs purchased under a federal program benefiting uninsured and low-income patients. The 340B Rebate Model Pilot takes effect on January 1 and allows the selected manufacturers to verify and pay rebates for 21 discounted drugs purchased under the government's 340B drug pricing program, rather than offering savings upfront as under the current discount model. The participating drugmakers are AbbVie, Amgen, Astellas, AstraZeneca, Bristol Myers, GSK, Merck, Pfizer, and Teva. The Health Resources and Services Administration, the HHS unit overseeing the program, said the approach helps address compliance concerns proactively rather than relying primarily on retrospective reviews, audits, and dispute resolution processes. The pilot marks the Trump administration's second attempt to overhaul the decades-old drug discount program, after a federal judge blocked HRSA's first 340B rebate pilot following a case brought by hospital groups last year.

Meta announced Petal on Sept. 21, a roughly 4,300-mile subsea cable connecting the U.S. and France that is expected to enter service in 2029 and will be the first to deliver petabit-scale capacity across an ocean. The cable will carry 1 petabit per second, or about 125,000 gigabytes per second, double what today's most advanced transoceanic cables can handle, using two-core fiber that fits two light paths inside each strand. Petal is one piece of a much larger seafloor empire: Meta says it has invested in more than 20 subsea cable projects touching every continent except Antarctica, led by Project Waterworth, announced in February 2025, which will stretch more than 31,000 miles and connect the U.S., Brazil, South Africa, India, and other regions across five continents. Petal is being developed with Japan's NEC and Sumitomo Electric Industries, with French telecom Orange handling the landing on France's Atlantic coast, while Waterworth will be wholly owned by Meta, only its third solely owned cable according to telecom research firm TeleGeography. Meta has not disclosed what Petal or Waterworth will cost, but TechCrunch reported before Waterworth's announcement that the project could top $10 billion, a small slice of the company's expected capital expenditures of $130 billion to $145 billion this year, nearly double the $72.2 billion it spent in 2025.

Aomori Michinoku Bank, Iwate Bank and Akita Bank have decided to enter talks toward a management integration. The move comes as a shrinking population, the burden of system investment tied to the spread of artificial intelligence, and intensifying competition to win deposits and borrowers in an era of positive interest rates all weigh on their businesses. Cross-prefecture realignments are multiplying across the country: Fourth North Financial Group, which is based in Niigata Prefecture, and Gunma Bank plan to integrate in 2027, while Shizuoka Financial Group and Nagoya Bank aim to merge around 2028. The emergence of cutting-edge AI models, which has heightened the need to defend against cyberattacks, is also spurring consolidation. Keitaro Ishikawa, president of Aomori Michinoku Bank, said at a news conference on the second that going it alone feels like an extremely heavy burden. Still, Aomori Michinoku Bank was itself only created in January last year through the merger of Aomori Bank and Michinoku Bank, once rival regional lenders within the prefecture, and voices in the industry said they hope the talks do not end up like those between Aichi Financial Group and Sanju Financial Group, which broke down almost immediately.

Tesla shares rose 5% after the electric vehicle maker reported third-quarter deliveries of 486,532 vehicles, above the 461,100 units expected by analysts polled by FactSet. Broadcom rose more than 3% after Reuters reported it agreed to lend Anthropic up to $42 billion to finance infrastructure purchases, with investment banks seeking to raise $42 billion of Class A senior secured debt and $18 billion in Class B debt, according to Bloomberg. Nike fell almost 6% after its fiscal first-quarter revenue missed analyst expectations, with a 4% slide in sales tied to declines in China and plans to lay off staff in 2027. Synaptics surged 14% and ON Semiconductor rose more than 5% after ON Semi revised its buyout offer for Synaptics to $123 a share, or $5.7 billion. Seagate and Western Digital each tumbled 13% following a Nikkei report that Japan's Toshiba will double its hard disk drive production capacity for data centers and invest $380 million to expand facilities in the Philippines.

Jefferies Financial Group is expanding its partnership with Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation through a Japan-based joint venture expected to begin serving clients in January 2027, while SMBC has increased its equity ownership in Jefferies to almost 20%, making it the company's largest shareholder. The venture will combine SMBC and SMBC Nikko's domestic client coverage, equities, Equity Capital Markets, research and corporate access capabilities with Jefferies' global client network, sector expertise, trading technology and capital-markets capabilities, with the shared goal of building a leading institutional Japanese equities and ECM franchise. The partners will also jointly source and execute Japan-related cross-border mergers and acquisitions and ECM transactions. Jefferies said joint coverage of selected large sponsor clients began in 2024, and its M&A and ECM market share for those jointly covered clients increased more than fourfold, with the partners now expanding joint coverage to larger sponsors globally. Management expects the Japan joint venture to provide a template for other ways Jefferies and SMBC can work together globally, though the venture is not expected to launch until January 2027.

SMBC Nikko Securities and blockchain development company Nethermind announced on October 2 that they will jointly develop a DeFi platform for domestic investors. Uniswap Labs, Base, and the Nyx Foundation will also take part, aiming to build a usage environment compliant with laws and regulations. The development targets are a liquidity provision protocol and a proprietary liquidity pool called "DeFi Gateway," which will incorporate AI-driven asset management functions, anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing measures, and investor protection mechanisms, with completion scheduled for mid-2027. SMBC Nikko Securities will lead dialogue with regulators and provide expertise in compliance and risk management, while Nethermind will lead technical development, including AI and smart contract security. Uniswap Labs will support protocol integration, Base will support deployment on its network, and the Nyx Foundation will advise on market-making strategies and hook design.

Nike shares fell more than 10% in premarket trading after the company missed revenue expectations against LSEG consensus for its fiscal first quarter, reporting sales down 4% on declines in its China business and announcing plans to lay off staff in 2027. Synaptics shares jumped over 14% and ON Semiconductor shares rose more than 7% following reports that ON Semiconductor will acquire Synaptics for $123 per share in cash, a transaction now valued at $5.7 billion, down from the prior agreement of $7 billion. Nexalin Technology shares dropped over 18% premarket after the medical device company announced a 10-year distribution and manufacturing deal with Inovanexa Medical Technologies on Thursday, clearing its Nexalin Sync neurostimulation device for distribution across seven South American countries. Vylor shares gained slightly after the seeds and genetics company was added to the S&P 500 on Thursday, following its spinoff from Corteva, which will move to the S&P MidCap 400. Seagate Technology and Western Digital shares fell over 11% and 8% respectively after a Nikkei report that Toshiba will double its production capacity for data-center hard disk drives and invest $380 million to expand facilities in the Philippines.

Seagate and Western Digital shares fell 7% and 5%, respectively, in premarket trading on Friday after Nikkei Asia reported that Toshiba could double the amount of hard disk drive supply available. The Japanese company is set to invest roughly $380M in the Philippines to expand facilities and create a more stable supply of components needed for AI infrastructure, the outlet added. The expansion would be Toshiba's first major investment in hard disk drives in roughly five years, and the company is also working on new products aimed at increasing per-unit memory capacity. Toshiba holds roughly 10% of the storage market, behind Seagate and Western Digital. Seagate, Western Digital, and Toshiba did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Seeking Alpha.

Sagawa Express announced on the 2nd that it will raise its base parcel delivery rates by an average of about 13.8% in January next year. This will be the first rate increase since April 2024. The company cited rising costs for materials and labor, as well as the need for continued investment in improving transport efficiency to address labor shortages. For shipments from the Kanto region to Kansai, the "60 size" package, with total length, width and height of 60 centimeters and weight of up to 2 kilograms, will rise from the current 1,040 yen to 1,060 yen, while the largest "260 size" package, with a total of 260 centimeters and weight of up to 50 kilograms, will increase from 8,420 yen to 10,100 yen.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries announced on the 2nd that it will invest approximately 100 billion yen to expand the construction capacity of its Shimonoseki Shipyard. The company will acquire industrial land on Choshu Dejima, an artificial island being developed by the city of Shimonoseki in Yamaguchi Prefecture, and build a new factory there. The move is aimed at strengthening its shipbuilding business, which the government is seeking to promote, and at the Shimonoseki Shipyard, the company's subsidiary Mitsubishi Shipbuilding builds ferries and car carriers. In addition to transferring some of the shipyard's functions to the newly acquired land, the company will build a factory to manufacture hull blocks, the components that make up a ship, with operations targeted to begin in 2030.

Apollo Global Management has moved further into energy and industrial assets, with its backed Eagle Creek Renewable Energy partnering with Relevate Power to grow small hydropower assets, and with Apollo completing its acquisition of Nippon Sheet Glass. The Eagle Creek and Relevate Power agreement covers both expansion and day-to-day management of distributed hydro facilities, while the Nippon Sheet Glass deal starts a new management setup and growth phase for the glass producer. Apollo Global Management, a US-based diversified financial group with a market value of about $68.5b, channels capital into credit, private equity, infrastructure and real assets. The firm is also rumored to be reshaping assets including Energos Infrastructure and rolling out Daily Pricing across US$850b of credit. Analysts continue to flag thinner recent profit margins and an uneven dividend record even as the deals support expectations of higher origination volumes.

Onto Innovation reported second-quarter revenue of $343.1 million, a 35.3% year-over-year increase, sending shares up 14% the following day as analysts raised estimates and price targets. The full-year EPS consensus jumped 13% from $7.11 to $8.04, representing 63% annual growth versus 2025, while next year's consensus vaulted 17% from $10 to $11.72 for a potential advance of 46%. Non-GAAP gross margins expanded to 57.0% from 54.5% a year earlier, non-GAAP operating margins reached 30.0%, and non-GAAP diluted EPS came in at $1.93, with the company holding $1.88 billion in cash and short-term investments. On August 17, Goldman Sachs analyst James E Schneider initiated coverage with a Strong Buy rating and a $400 price target, matching the Street high set by Jefferies' Blayne Peter Curtis, while Needham's Charles Shi raised his target to $360 from $330 and Evercore ISI's Mark Lipacis lifted his to $390 from $350. In August 2026, Onto completed a $710 million strategic investment for a 27% equity stake in Rigaku, targeting the estimated $1 billion hybrid metrology market, and the company said demand for its Dragonfly G5 packaging inspection platform is projected to grow over 50% through 2026.

Suzuki has asked its Indian suppliers to shut down production one day a week for machine maintenance. According to two people familiar with the matter, the company aims to prevent unexpected stoppages and maintain quality ahead of planned production increases. It is said to be the first time Suzuki has made such a request of Indian suppliers. Its Indian subsidiary Maruti Suzuki is preparing to raise annual production capacity from about 2.4 million units to 4 million units by 2030. According to the sources, Suzuki President Toshihiro Suzuki met with Indian suppliers in August and asked them to plan capacity on the basis of a six-day workweek. Maruti Suzuki subsequently asked suppliers to sign affidavits by the end of the year confirming that production lines for its parts would not operate seven days a week. According to the sources, Suzuki is asking suppliers to shift to a model of 20 hours a day and six days a week by September 2027, which would give production machinery four hours of rest each night and a full day for maintenance. As output rises, there are concerns that keeping machines running every day would increase the risk of factory accidents, unexpected stoppages and quality problems.

AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo have entered a clinical trial collaboration agreement with Summit Therapeutics to evaluate Datroway, also known as datopotamab deruxtecan, in combination with Summit's ivonescimab across multiple tumor types. The companies plan to begin with a phase 3 trial in first-line triple negative breast cancer. Datroway is a specifically engineered TROP2 directed DXd antibody drug conjugate discovered by Daiichi Sankyo and jointly developed and commercialized by Daiichi Sankyo and AstraZeneca. Under the agreement, each company will contribute its respective compound for the planned combination trials, which will be sponsored by AstraZeneca or Daiichi Sankyo. AstraZeneca, Daiichi Sankyo and Summit will each contribute to trial costs, and each company will retain development and commercial rights to its respective medicines.

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. has completed a successful flight test of its MQ-9B Remotely Piloted Aircraft carrying a new communications payload developed by SoftBank Corp. The Disaster Relief Unit communications pod, integrated onto an MQ-9B and flown by GA-ASI on July 27, is designed to provide disaster relief and recovery communications in areas where cellular service is not available. The pod lets an MQ-9B act as a mobile network relay tower in the sky, establishing connectivity where cellular towers have been damaged by a flood or another natural disaster. GA-ASI President David R. Alexander called the test an exciting achievement for both companies and said the capability should interest many MQ-9B operators for disaster relief and emergency communications. MQ-9Bs are flown by operators in the United Kingdom and Belgium as well as the Japan Coast Guard, and the aircraft has been selected by Canada, Denmark, Poland, Germany, Qatar, Taiwan and India.

Toyota Motor North America reported September 2026 U.S. sales of 201,306 vehicles, up 8.4 percent on a volume basis and up 4.0 percent on a daily selling rate basis compared to September 2025. Electrified vehicles accounted for 117,215 of that total, up 37.8 percent on a volume basis and 32.2 percent on a DSR basis, representing 58.2 percent of total sales volume. For the third quarter, TMNA sold 633,223 vehicles, up 0.6 percent on both a volume and DSR basis, with electrified vehicle sales of 363,367, up 28.5 percent on both measures and 57.4 percent of total volume. The Toyota division posted September sales of 171,469 vehicles, up 7.9 percent, and third-quarter sales of 540,167 vehicles, up 0.5 percent, while the Lexus division posted September sales of 29,837 vehicles, up 11.4 percent, and third-quarter sales of 93,056 vehicles, up 1.6 percent. Andrew Gilleland, senior vice president of the Automotive Operations Group at Toyota Motor North America, said the third-quarter results reinforce that customers want choices and that the company's multi-path strategy continues to meet customers where they are, adding that with solid momentum and disciplined inventory heading into the fourth quarter, Toyota is well-positioned to finish the year strong.

Takeda Pharmaceutical reported Phase 3 data showing its investigational oral TYK2 inhibitor zasocitinib, also known as TAK-279, achieved statistically superior complete skin clearance versus deucravacitinib and outperformed apremilast in adults with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis, with results presented at the 2026 European Academy of Dermatology & Venereology Congress. Zasocitinib delivered more than 2.5 times as many patients with complete skin clearance at week 16 compared with deucravacitinib, reinforcing its potential to shift treatment choices if approved in major markets. The readout follows the FDA's Priority Review for zasocitinib, with a decision expected in early 2027, and the combination of strong head-to-head data and an accelerated regulatory timeline highlights how central the asset has become to Takeda's pipeline-driven recovery narrative, alongside other launches such as oveporexton and rusfertide. Takeda's narrative projects ¥4,976.1 billion in revenue and ¥401.3 billion in earnings by 2029, requiring 2.5% yearly revenue growth and an earnings increase of about ¥564.7 billion from -¥163.4 billion today, while the most optimistic analysts assume annual revenue of about ¥5,072.4 billion and earnings of roughly ¥423.0 billion. The key catalyst remains upcoming regulatory decisions, and the biggest risk is that late-stage assets collectively fall short of expectations.

SBI Digital Trust, a subsidiary of SBI Holdings, announced on October 1 that it will jointly conduct verification with two Korean companies, payment provider NICE Information & Telecommunication and blockchain infrastructure firm DSRV Labs, on cross-border remittance and payments between Japan and Korea using stablecoins. The three companies signed a basic agreement on September 30 aimed at future commercialization, and will examine fund flows from users to merchants, methods for connecting each company's systems, expected transaction volumes, and costs, with the goal of completing the work by the end of December 2026. In the verification, a Japanese user will scan a QR code at a NICE Information & Telecommunication merchant, and stablecoins will be used to settle with the Korean-side merchant, while the companies also check instruction methods for remittance and payment and operational issues. NICE Information & Telecommunication supports a network of about 1.2 million merchants in Korea, and the companies will consider payment and settlement operations at physical stores and methods for connecting with existing systems to confirm whether the business can work in an actual merchant environment, while DSRV will verify the blockchain technology and system architecture needed to transfer stablecoins. SBI Digital Trust will consider a Japan-Korea payment scheme in light of Japanese regulations and payment systems, working with companies across the SBI Group. In Korea, work is underway to develop rules for stablecoins, but the details are still under discussion, and the three companies will focus on the technical and operational aspects that can be verified at this point, deciding whether to commercialize based on regulatory developments. The SBI Group also signed a basic agreement with a Korean company in August to build a blockchain-based Japan-Korea payment network for financial institutions, and while the previous effort targeted a payment network intermediated by financial institutions, this time the focus is on payments by Japanese travelers at physical stores in Korea.

Claros Technologies and Daikin America announced a commercial agreement for full-scale deployment of the ClarosTechUV PFAS destruction system at Daikin's manufacturing facility in Decatur, Alabama. The large-scale, long-term installation will integrate the technology directly into Daikin's manufacturing operations as a continuously operating PFAS destruction system engineered for industrial-scale performance, following a multi-phase collaboration that moved from pilot demonstration to commercial optimization. The deployment will combine permanent PFAS destruction through ClarosTechUV with continuous analytical testing and performance verification through ClarosLabs, and will be incorporated into broader facility improvements underway at Daikin's Decatur campus over the next few years. The agreement extends beyond a single installation, establishing a long-term strategic relationship and creating opportunities to evaluate additional applications for ClarosTechUV across Daikin's global operations. Daikin America CEO Yuichi Hashikawa said the partnership demonstrates that it is possible to be a responsible manufacturer while providing materials essential to today's society, while Claros CEO and Co-Founder Michelle Bellanca called it the defining commercial achievement in Claros' history and a turning point for the entire industry.

JERA, equally owned by Tokyo Electric Power Group and Chubu Electric Power, and its partners announced on the 1st that they will build a data center for artificial intelligence at the company's Chiba thermal power plant. The power capacity indicating its scale will be up to 400,000 kilowatts, making it one of the largest single-site facilities in Japan. The project envisions a total investment of 15 billion dollars, or about 2.3 trillion yen, with operation targeted to begin around 2028. JERA, major U.S. IT equipment maker Dell Technologies, and British data center developer Realm signed a memorandum of understanding the same day to accelerate AI infrastructure development. This data center project is the first step, and by attaching a data center on the power plant site and supplying electricity directly, large-scale transmission equipment becomes unnecessary and earlier operation becomes possible.

Pan Pacific International Holdings, which operates the discount chain Don Quijote, announced on the 1st that it has signed a business transfer agreement with major toy retailer Toys R Us Japan. Toys R Us Japan filed for application of the Civil Rehabilitation Act with the Tokyo District Court the same day, and according to Teikoku Databank, its total liabilities stand at approximately 13.2 billion yen. Pan Pacific International Holdings plans to take over all stores by the end of this month after obtaining court approval, inheriting the brand and main debts while continuing operations, and aims to return to profitability quickly through strengthened sales efforts. Toys R Us Japan has operated more than 150 toy stores nationwide under the Toys R Us name and others, but in recent years it had continued to post losses against the backdrop of a declining birthrate. Pan Pacific International Holdings is also involved in the toy business and judged that combining the two companies' shares would allow it to establish an overwhelming position in Japan's toy market. President Hiroshi Mori, at a press conference on the 1st, stressed that the addition of Toys R Us Japan's broad customer touchpoints will contribute to the group's sustainable growth.

New car sales in Japan for the first half of fiscal 2026, from April to September, rose 5.1% year on year to 2,292,064 units, the highest level since fiscal 2020, when sales slumped due to the spread of the novel coronavirus. The abolition of the environmental performance tax on automobile purchases at the end of March provided a tailwind. The figures were announced on the 1st by the Japan Automobile Dealers Association and the National Light Motor Vehicle Association. By category, registered vehicles such as passenger cars and trucks drove the overall increase, rising 9.6% to 1,504,178 units, with notable growth from Toyota Motor and Honda, while Mazda and others that introduced new models also posted gains. Meanwhile, light motor vehicles, which saw few refreshed models or new launches, fell 2.5% to 787,886 units, marking their first decline in two years. Sales for the single month of September, announced at the same time, rose 1.3% year on year to 433,683 units, with registered vehicles up 2.5% for a sixth consecutive month of growth, while light motor vehicles slipped 0.6%; among the latter, Nissan Motor and Mitsubishi Motors posted increases on the strength of new models launched last autumn.

Bitbank, which operates a cryptocurrency exchange, announced on October 1 that the procedure to make it a wholly owned subsidiary of SBI Holdings has been completed. The two companies had announced the signing of an agreement toward the full acquisition on June 25, and the series of transactions was completed on October 1 when Bitbank acquired its own shares from existing shareholders MIXI and Ceres. The move will have no impact on Bitbank's services, and users will be able to continue using them as before. Accordingly, SBI VC Trade President Tomohiko Kondo has taken a position as a director of Bitbank. Meanwhile, Noriyuki Hirosue of Bitbank will continue to serve as representative director, president and CEO, and is also set to become an outside director of SBI VC Trade.

The third and final $10 billion tranche of SoftBank's $30 billion commitment to OpenAI was scheduled to close on October 1, 2026, completing the Japanese conglomerate's portion of the $122 billion funding round that closed March 31, 2026 at an $852 billion post-money valuation. SoftBank funded the tranche not from operating cash flow but through an $11.1 billion bond offering — $10 billion in USD-denominated senior unsecured notes and €1 billion in EUR-denominated notes — that priced September 24 and settled September 29, which CNBC reported as the largest high-yield corporate bond sale in history. SoftBank, rated BB+, also issued ¥1 trillion, approximately $6.32 billion, in retail bonds to Japanese investors in September, bringing its cumulative OpenAI investment to approximately $64.6 billion, an estimated 13% ownership stake. The tranche's close coincided with three OpenAI platform moves: the September 29 launch of Dots, always-on autonomous agents powered by GPT-6 Astra with a $500-per-month Pro 500 tier, alongside GPT-6.1 Sol at $2 per million input tokens and $10 per million output tokens, and an October 1 OneGov agreement with the General Services Administration offering government agencies a 50% discount on token-based pricing. Despite the capital concentration, governance power at OpenAI rests with the OpenAI Foundation, which holds 26% ownership and appoints all members of the Public Benefit Corporation board, and SoftBank has no confirmed board seat.