AI Era Fuels Japan's M&A Boom, Sending FY2025 Deal Count and Value to Record Highs

Generative AI is intensifying industry competition, while Japanese companies face pressure to upgrade technology, address talent shortages and restructure existing businesses. They are increasingly turning to mergers and acquisitions to secure critical technology, enter new markets and advance digital transformation. The deal wave shows companies using external resources to accelerate transformation and reshape their long-term competitiveness.

Japanese companies completed 5,228 M&A deals in fiscal 2025, with their combined value exceeding 43 trillion yen. Both the number and value of transactions reached their highest levels since records began in 1985. The AI boom has accelerated corporate restructuring and technology investment, becoming the main driver of the simultaneous rise in deal volume and value in Japan's M&A market during the fiscal year.