TOKYO  A Japanese technology giant little known outside Asia is racing to capture the booming Chinese Internet market. And in the process, it hopes to become a global player straddling what is fast becoming the world’s most wired region.

The company, Softbank, already trumps Google in Japan, where it has the country’s most popular search engine and e-commerce site. It also runs the fastest-growing mobile phone carrier in Japan and operates its largest broadband network. Softbank is also the sole Japanese carrier for the Apple iPhone; in addition it is the only company providing data service for the iPad, which went on sale Friday to much fanfare.

But Softbank’s most promising ventures are in China, where it has made a series of strategic investments in some of the country’s most prominent Internet companies.

It invested in the Chinese Web retailer Alibaba in 2000, pushing its founder, Jack Ma, to start Taobao, now the biggest e-commerce site in the country. Softbank remains one of Alibaba’s leading investors, with a 34 percent stake in the company.