Market value hits record high! Panasonic goes from household appliance giant to AI computing power "water seller": stock price doubles in a year, plans to bet 500 billion yen on data center energy storage.

Driven by the investment boom in artificial intelligence infrastructure, Japanese electronics giant Panasonic Holdings is currently undergoing a transformative change. Driven by the demand for AI server electronic components, circuit board materials, and data center backup batteries, the company's stock price has more than doubled this year, reaching a record market value of 11.5 trillion yen (approximately 710 billion dollars), the highest level since data recording began in 1974. From being a global leader in consumer electronics, to now being a key battery supplier for Tesla, and further to actively expanding in the AI infrastructure sector, Panasonic is under the leadership of Yuki Kusumi, undergoing a strategic transformation from "king of home appliances" to "AI computing power seller". Soaring stock price: Market value reaches new high since 1974 As of July 1, Panasonic Holdings stock price closed at 3,767 yen, with a one-year increase of 2,099 yen. The company's market value reached a historical peak of 11.5 trillion yen. IwaiCosmo Securities analyst Norikazu Shimizu pointed out that Panasonic currently has a price-to-earnings ratio of about 25 times, which is not considered high compared to stocks that are more sensitive to AI infrastructure demand because Panasonic still has a wide range of businesses, including consumer electronics, real estate-related businesses, car operations, and software. Financial report released in May 2026 shows that the company's annual sales are expected to be 7.6 trillion yen, with adjusted operating profit expected to increase to 600 billion yen, and net profit expected to increase to 420 billion yen. Strategic transformation: The "great migration" from home appliances to AI infrastructure Panasonic used to be synonymous with the global consumer electronics industry, covering almost every corner of Japanese households with its TVs, refrigerators, and washing machines. However, with the rise of Chinese home appliance manufacturers and the reshaping of the global electronics industry, this century-old company has long embarked on a difficult strategic transformation. First step: Partnering with Tesla to enter the power battery race. Panasonic was one of Tesla's earliest battery partners, supplying a large number of lithium-ion batteries to Tesla's Gigafactory 1 in Nevada, USA. However, as competition in the global power battery market intensifies, and Tesla introduces more battery suppliers, Panasonic's growth in the power battery sector is facing bottlenecks. Data shows that from January to April 2026, Panasonic ranked seventh globally with a loading volume of 12GWh, a 3.7% decrease year-on-year, and its market share dropped from 4.0% to 3.4%. Second step: Embracing AI computing, entering the data center energy storage race. Faced with the slowdown in the growth of the power battery market, under the leadership of Yuki Kusumi, Panasonic swiftly shifted its strategic focus to the fast-growing field of AI data centers. "In the next three years, we plan to seize this opportunity," Yuki Kusumi said in a recent interview. "Over the next three years, we will focus on turning it into our next growth engine." Panasonic's strategic logic is clear and direct: AI data centers consume a large amount of power with GPU chips, and the demand for stable backup power and energy storage systems is explosively growing. Panasonic's decades of technical accumulation and manufacturing capabilities in the lithium-ion battery field can seamlessly transition into this new race. Layoff of 12,000 employees: "subtraction" and "addition" of structural reform While heavily investing in AI infrastructure, Panasonic is also undergoing a large-scale organizational slimming. The company has expanded the global layoffs from the previously announced 10,000 people to 12,000 people (8,000 in Japan and 4,000 overseas). It is estimated that this structural reform will bring about 145 billion yen in cost savings by the end of the 2027 fiscal year. In his New Year's address in 2026, Yuki Kusumi positioned this year as "the year of transformation for achieving growth stage". This round of layoffs is not only about cost reduction, but also about reallocating resources - releasing manpower and capital from underperforming traditional businesses and investing them in the high-growth area of AI infrastructure. Data center energy storage: from "selling batteries" to "optimizing power efficiency" Panasonic Energy has identified AI data center power systems as a new growth engine. The company is supplying backup power units (BBUs) and other data center power equipment to American super large cloud service providers such as Google and Amazon. Panasonic's distributed power supply systems currently hold about 80% market share in the data center sector. Kazuo Tadanobu, CEO of Panasonic Energy, announced detailed midterm strategic plans at an investor day on June 8: In terms of capacity expansion, Panasonic plans to increase its lithium-ion battery production capacity to three times that of the 2026 fiscal year by the 2029 fiscal year. Specific measures include: transforming the automotive production line in the Osaka plant into a production line for data center applications, with related lithium-ion batteries starting to ship in April 2026; introducing a dedicated production line for data centers at the Kansas factory, with mass production expected in the 2028 fiscal year; constructing a third battery module factory in Mexico, with mass production expected by the 2028 fiscal year. In terms of technology roadmap, Panasonic is actively developing high-power lithium-ion batteries and battery backup unit solutions. The first-generation capacitor backup unit developed in collaboration with Panasonic Industry is planned for mass production within the 2027 fiscal year, and BBUs designed for high-voltage direct current are also planned for mass production at the same time. In terms of financial targets, Panasonic Energy expects that by the 2029 fiscal year, sales of data center energy storage systems will reach approximately 1 trillion yen, triple that of the 2026 fiscal year, with an expected return on investment of over 20%. The overall sales target for the energy business is 2 trillion yen, with adjusted operating profit exceeding 300 billion yen. The company also plans to increase sales of AI-related infrastructure to around 2 trillion yen by the 2030 fiscal year. A bold bet of 500 billion yen: the "arms race" of AI infrastructure investment To seize the opportunities brought by the rapid expansion of AI data centers, Panasonic announced cumulative investments of 500 billion yen in the AI infrastructure sector from the 2026 to 2028 fiscal years. Of this, approximately 350 billion yen will be focused on the core energy department - Panasonic Energy, which supplies batteries to Tesla - to expand data center energy storage system capacity. The remaining 150 billion yen will be used for the transformation and upgrading of the industrial sector. At the group level, Panasonic has set clear AI business goals: by the 2029 fiscal year, AI infrastructure-related business will achieve sales of 1.4 trillion yen and adjusted operating profit of 290 billion yen. Panasonic Industry plans to achieve sales of 1.3 trillion yen by the 2029 fiscal year, doubling AI-related sales from the 2026 fiscal year. Panasonic Electric Works has invested 600 million yuan to build a new factory in Suzhou, China, which will start production after October 2026, producing electronic circuit board materials for AI servers, including multilayer PCB materials and semiconductor packaging materials. The company plans to double the production capacity of multilayer PCB materials within five years starting from the 2025 fiscal year. Embracing AI comprehensively: strategic cooperation with Anthropic Panasonic is not only investing in AI infrastructure at the hardware level, but also actively expanding in software and AI application layers. In January 2025, Panasonic announced a global strategic partnership with the American AI research company Anthropic. Panasonic will utilize Anthropic's AI assistant "Claude" to fully incorporate artificial intelligence technology into its hardware and software businesses. The cooperation between the two is based on the common belief that "AI design should be safe, understandable, and deeply in line with human values". At CES 2025, Panasonic launched the AI assistant "Umi" based on Anthropic's Claude, the first product of Panasonic's Well consumer brand to use Claude. Panasonic aims to increase the proportion of AI-related income to 30% within ten years as a group. Yuki Kusumi stated that the company will fully adopt artificial intelligence technology in its hardware and software businesses, and through collaborations with industry leaders such as Anthropic, will drive business transformation. Outlook: Japan's "invisible champion" in the AI era From being a global leader in consumer electronics to becoming a key player in Tesla's battery supply chain, and further to being a key player in AI data center energy storage systems - Panasonic's transformation trajectory reflects Japan's manufacturing industry's adaptability to industrial changes. Data from the International Energy Agency shows that by 2025, global data center electricity consumption has reached about 485 billion kilowatt-hours, accounting for about 1.5% of global electricity consumption, with electricity consumption in AI-dedicated data centers growing by 50% year-on-year. It is estimated that by 2030, global data center electricity consumption will double to around 950 terawatt-hours. This trend provides a solid demand foundation for Panasonic's energy business. IwaiCosmo Securities analyst Norikazu Shimizu pointed out that Panasonic's current price-to-earnings ratio of about 25 times is not considered high compared to other AI infrastructure stocks. As the contribution of AI infrastructure business to the group's revenue and profit continues to increase, the market's valuation logic of Panasonic may be further reshaped. For investors, Panasonic offers a unique investment perspective: it is not just a pure AI chip company, nor just a new energy battery company, but a diversified technology group that spans the AI hardware supply chain (circuit board materials, electronic components), AI energy infrastructure (data center energy storage), and AI software applications (collaboration with Anthropic). In the backdrop of the escalating global AI computing power competition, this century-old Japanese company is trying to find its new position in the industry chain as a "seller of water".