Japan Equity Strategy: Market Update Conference

Research evidence excerpt

Japan Equity Strategy: Market Update Conference

※ Please also refer to “Japan Equity Strategy: Transformative companies in the AI era: Searching for the next

Recruit “ (7/10) Jul 13, 2026Equity Strategy (Rie Nishihara/Yong Guo)

Transformative Companies in the AI Era: Searching for the Next Recruit

Value creation through generative AI is expected to reach ¥56 trillion annually in Japan, with a major impact: According to McKinsey estimates (2023),

generative AI could generate up to $4.4 trillion (approximately ¥700 trillion) in economic value worldwide, equivalent to 2–4% of global nominal GDP. JPMorgan

estimates that Japan’s share will be around $340 billion (roughly ¥56 trillion, or 8% of the global total), which is relatively large compared to Japan’s share of

global GDP (about 4%) and market capitalization (about 5%). A country-by-country comparison by JPM’s Long-term Strategy team, taking into account factors

such as population decline, R&D investment, industry structure, and regulatory environment, also indicates that Japan has a relatively high potential for AI

utilization, with relatively small negative side effects.

Shift in AI value creation from white-collar to blue-collar sectors: Generative AI creates significant value in knowledge-intensive tasks such as customer

service, sales, marketing, software development, and R&D, as noted by both McKinsey and BCG. The impact is particularly large in industries such as high-tech,

information & communications, banking, pharmaceuticals, and retail (JPM estimates by sector). Furthermore, since around autumn 2024, advances in “physical AI”

and the development of industrial and humanoid robots have expanded the potential for AI-driven productivity improvements into blue-collar areas. This includes