Rakuten

楽天 / 楽天グループ株式会社

Rakuten is a diversified Japanese digital ecosystem that integrates proprietary Japanese-language AI models and agents into its commerce, fintech, and mobile-network services.

TSE: 4755 (Prime Market)
Other: RKUNY (ADR)
Other: RKUNF (Ordinary shares)
Profile as of September 12, 2026
#125 in the AsiaAI Tech Index
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Rakuten has credible AI products and a valuable domestic ecosystem, but its reported AI economics remain undisclosed. Its mobile and Open RAN investments continue to demand capital discipline and weigh on overall profitability.

Key figures

Revenue FY2025: 2.497 trillion yen
Revenue growth FY2025: 9.5%
Operating margin FY2025: 0.6%
Net income FY2025: 177.886 billion yen loss
R&D spend FY2025: Not disclosed
Capital expenditure FY2025: Not disclosed
Market capitalization 2026-09-11: Approximately 1.563 trillion yen (US$10.19 billion) Estimate
Domestic ecommerce gross merchandise sales FY2025: 6.35 trillion yen
Rakuten Card shopping gross transaction value FY2025: 26.5 trillion yen
Rakuten Mobile subscriptions 2025-12-31: 10.01 million
Network-related capital expenditure FY2025: Approximately 137.1 billion yen

Overview

Rakuten Group was founded in 1997 and operates as a diversified internet-platform, fintech, and mobile-network group in Japan. Its core businesses include the Rakuten Ichiba ecommerce marketplace, Rakuten Card, Rakuten Bank, Rakuten Securities, and Rakuten Mobile. The company integrates these services through a unified membership and loyalty-point ecosystem, providing large volumes of first-party behavioral and transaction data.

Beyond consumer services, Rakuten Symphony develops and commercializes Open RAN and telecom-automation software for global network operators. While the company is not a semiconductor supplier or hyperscale cloud provider, its broad digital footprint makes it a significant platform for deploying consumer and enterprise software in Japan. Its structural position relies on linking AI capabilities directly to its massive domestic user base and merchant network.

The AI angle

Rakuten’s AI exposure comes through proprietary Japanese-language models, consumer and enterprise AI agents, and recommendation systems. Its principal AI assets include Rakuten AI, an agentic consumer interface deployed in Rakuten Link and Rakuten Ichiba; Rakuten AI for Business; and Rakuten AI 3.0, an approximately 700 billion-parameter mixture-of-experts Japanese language model released under an Apache 2.0 licence.

The company monetizes AI indirectly by raising ecommerce conversion, advertising performance, merchant productivity, and mobile-network operational efficiency. It also distributes AI software through a partnership with HP Japan, bundling Rakuten AI for Desktop on eligible PCs. Rakuten does not disclose revenue attributable specifically to its AI products, making the direct financial impact difficult to isolate from its broader internet and fintech segments.

Its commercial audience is initially the company’s own ecosystem users, including Rakuten Mobile subscribers, Rakuten Ichiba shoppers, and enterprise customers. By embedding AI into existing workflows, Rakuten captures value from AI computing without commercializing an accelerator or operating a standalone hyperscale cloud.

Technology and moat

Rakuten’s defensible technology position rests on the integration of AI services with its extensive Japanese ecosystem rather than on frontier-model leadership or proprietary AI chips. Its commerce, payments, banking, and mobile services provide large volumes of first-party behavioral and transaction context for AI applications.

Technically, Rakuten AI 3.0 is significant for the domestic market as an approximately 700 billion-parameter mixture-of-experts model optimized for Japanese. The open-weight approach improves developer adoption but reduces exclusivity. In telecommunications, Rakuten Symphony’s Open RAN capabilities are differentiated by the company's experience building and operating its own large-scale mobile network, though commercialization requires third-party radio vendors and systems integrators. Against global AI developers, Rakuten's advantage is distribution through its own services and Japan-specific workflow integration.

Five-pillar assessment

Scale and market position: A major Japanese digital ecosystem with 10.01 million mobile subscriptions, 6.35 trillion yen in domestic ecommerce sales, and extensive fintech operations.
Technology and R&D: Develops the 700 billion-parameter Rakuten AI 3.0 model and Open RAN telecom software, leveraging massive first-party transaction and behavioral data.
Supply-chain centrality: Partners with HP Japan for AI distribution and collaborates with Cisco, Nokia, and NEC for Open RAN telecom deployments.
Financial momentum: Achieved 9.5% revenue growth and first full-year EBITDA profitability for Rakuten Mobile in FY2025, though Open RAN impairments and capital needs persist.
Governance and quality: Independent public company with majority outside directors, though founder Hiroshi Mikitani retains significant influence and complex regulatory obligations span multiple sectors.

Supply chain and relationships

Rakuten depends on external compute capacity, supported partly by the Japanese government’s GENIAC program, as well as cloud infrastructure and foundation-model engineering tools. It does not publicly identify its full accelerator or cloud-supplier stack. Rakuten Symphony relies on a wider Open RAN vendor ecosystem, including radio and technology partners such as Airspan, Cisco, Tech Mahindra, Nokia, and NEC.

On the customer side, Rakuten's AI services target its own ecosystem users, including mobile subscribers, shoppers, and enterprise clients. Publicly named enterprise users of Rakuten AI for Business include Wolt Japan and Hotel Urashima. The company does not disclose customer-level revenue concentration, as its ecosystem consists primarily of millions of retail users, merchants, and mobile subscribers.

Customers

Wolt JapanUses Rakuten AI for Business
Hotel UrashimaUses Rakuten AI for Business

Suppliers

NokiaRadio partner for Open RAN deployments
NECRadio partner for Open RAN deployments

Partners

HP JapanBundles Rakuten AI for Desktop on eligible PCs
OpenAIHistoricalCollaborates on AI solutions for telecommunications
Cisco SystemsMOU to market Rakuten Symphony Open RAN solutions
Airspan NetworksMOU to resell Rakuten Symphony Open RAN software
Tech MahindraMOU to resell Rakuten Symphony software licenses
VEONMOU covering Open RAN and AI networks
U-NEXTBusiness alliance for Rakuten SAIKYO U-NEXT
UberIntegration of IDs, loyalty, and service access

Competitors

LINE YahooInferredCompetes in Japanese ecommerce, AI, and digital ecosystems
SoftBank GroupInferredCompetes in mobile, payments, and AI deployment
NTT DOCOMOInferredCompetes in Japan's mobile market
KDDIInferredCompetes in mobile services and enterprise telecom
EricssonInferredCompetes with Rakuten Symphony in telecom software

Geopolitics and risk

Rakuten's geographic exposure is concentrated in Japan, making it sensitive to domestic telecom competition, financial regulation, and consumer spending. Its international businesses and debt-funding methods expose it to yen volatility.

While Rakuten does not face direct China-facing chip export controls, its access to high-end accelerators and cloud capacity for model training could be affected by broader U.S.-China technology controls and global GPU scarcity. The company relies on external cloud and compute suppliers, including GENIAC-supported resources, to maintain its AI development pipeline. Rakuten Symphony's global Open RAN ambitions also require navigating diverse international telecom regulations and operator requirements.

Risk matrix
Risk	Severity	Why it matters
Mobile-network funding and debt servicing	High	Requires ongoing network investment while managing significant interest-bearing debt.
Open RAN commercialization	High	FY2025 impairment shows technical credibility has not yet translated into commercial returns.
Japanese telecom competition	High	Competes against established incumbents NTT DOCOMO, KDDI, and SoftBank.
Data protection and financial regulation	High	Extensive obligations across banking, securities, payments, and ecommerce platforms.
Cybersecurity and fraud	High	Customer-transaction compensation linked to unauthorized access illustrates operational exposure.
AI monetization uncertainty	Medium	Financial effect of AI deployment is indirect and difficult to isolate.
Dependence on external AI compute	Medium	Relies on external cloud and accelerator supply chains subject to global scarcity.
Foreign-exchange exposure	Medium	Financing and foreign operations are sensitive to yen volatility.

Governance and ownership

Rakuten is an independent, publicly listed company. Founder Hiroshi Mikitani exercises material influence, directly owning 8.14% of shares, with additional stakes held by family and related holding vehicles. Japan Post Holdings owns a 6.04% minority stake, creating a government-linked shareholder relationship but not state control.

The nine-member board includes six outside directors, supporting independent oversight. As a diversified group, Rakuten is subject to extensive Japanese financial regulation through its banking and securities subsidiaries, telecommunications regulation through Rakuten Mobile, and privacy requirements across its digital platforms.

What to watch

Whether Rakuten reports a separate revenue or gross-margin measure for its AI products.
Whether Rakuten Mobile can sustain EBITDA profitability while increasing FY2026 network capital expenditure.
Whether Rakuten Mobile's reported subscriptions continue to grow beyond 10.01 million lines.
Whether Rakuten Symphony converts Open RAN licensing MOUs into material disclosed revenue.
Whether the company records further impairments in Open RAN or logistics after FY2025 charges.
Whether the HP Japan distribution agreement produces visible corporate-PC deployment volume.

Recent developments

July 29, 2026Launched Rakuten AI for Desktop on eligible HP PCs for enterprise customers in Japan.
March 17, 2026Released Rakuten AI 3.0 as an Apache 2.0 open-weight model through Hugging Face.
February 12, 2026Reported FY2025 revenue of 2.497 trillion yen and Rakuten Mobile's first full-year EBITDA profitability.
December 18, 2025Unveiled Rakuten AI 3.0, an approximately 700 billion-parameter Japanese mixture-of-experts model.
November 11, 2025Announced plans to integrate on-device Rakuten AI capabilities into HP PCs in Japan.
July 30, 2025Launched Rakuten AI at full scale, initially integrating the AI agent with Rakuten Link.

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About this profile

Compiled with AI-assisted research from company filings, market data, and published reporting as of September 12, 2026, then reviewed by AsiaAI.FYI. Figures marked Estimate are not company-reported. Check primary filings before relying on any number.

Confidence: B. Core revenue, income, and operating metrics are supported by company filings, while AI revenue attribution, consolidated capital expenditure, and R&D expense lack public disclosure.

Main sources: Rakuten Group FY2025 IFRS consolidated financial report and results release; Rakuten FY2025 annual securities report and corporate-governance report; Official product and partnership releases; Rakuten Symphony partner disclosures; Third-party market-data and patent-database sources.

All 81 sources

Position in the AI stack

Embeds Japanese-language AI models and agents into its commerce, fintech, and mobile ecosystem, and develops the open-weight Rakuten AI 3.0 model.

Legal name: Rakuten Group, Inc.
Formerly: Rakuten, Inc., 楽天株式会社
Headquarters: Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan
Founded: 1997
Founders: Hiroshi Mikitani / 三木谷浩史
Leadership: Hiroshi Mikitani / 三木谷浩史, Representative Director, Chairman, President and CEO
Employees: 29,419 (2025-12-31)
Ownership: Publicly listed
Listings: TSE: 4755 (Prime Market)
Other: RKUNY (ADR)
Other: RKUNF (Ordinary shares)
Business: Internet services, fintech, and mobile networks
Sector: Internet Platforms & Cloud
Telecom & Networking
Website: global.rakuten.com/corp