Advantest and SoftBank Group led the charge on the Tokyo exchange as the Nikkei 225 rocketed over 2,200 points in early trading. The index broke above 65,000 for the first time in weeks, riding the coattails of a monster night for American semiconductor stocks. Philadelphia's chip index had jumped 6.55% overnight, and Tokyo's heavyweights in the sector weren't about to sit still.
Tokyo Electron, Kioxia, TDK, Murata Manufacturing, and Ibiden all posted solid gains as investors rotated into hardware plays. The move echoed a familiar pattern: whenever the U.S. tech sector finds its footing, Japan's equipment makers and component suppliers tend to follow. These companies supply the tools and parts that chipmakers use to build processors, so their stock prices move in lockstep with global semiconductor demand.
The rally shows how tightly linked Tokyo's market has become to U.S. tech momentum. A single strong session in Philadelphia ripples across the Pacific within hours. Traders in Tokyo woke to green screens and immediately started hunting for exposure to the sector's rebound.
The index closed with gains intact across the trading day.
