Japanese stocks tumbled Friday, driven by renewed worries about how artificial intelligence could disrupt key industries, which weighed on U.S. tech shares and pushed investors toward the safety of Treasuries.

The Nikkei 225 fell 442.5 points or 0.8% to open at 57,197.33.

US inflation figures for January are set to be released later in the day.

In other news, PayPay, SoftBank's digital payments arm, has publicly filed for a U.S. IPO in what could become the largest U.S. listing ever by a Japanese company.

Meanwhile, OpenAI has cautioned U.S. lawmakers that Chinese competitor DeepSeek is employing unfair and increasingly advanced tactics to replicate outputs from leading American AI models, Bloomberg News reported on Friday.

On the trade front, the U.S. and Taiwan have formalized an agreement aimed at cutting tariffs, expanding market access for American goods in Asia, while channeling investments into U.S. energy and technology ventures.