Tencent Holdings Limited is an investment holding company that provides value-added services, marketing services, fintech, and business services in Mainland China and internationally. Its consumer business includes communications and social services such as instant messaging and social networks; digital content including online games, videos, live streaming, news, music, and literature; fintech services such as mobile payment, wealth management, consumer loans, and securities trading; and tools for network security management, browsing, navigation, application management, and email. Its enterprise business offers marketing solutions (including user insight, creative management, placement strategy, and digital assets management) and cloud services (including cloud computing, big data analytics, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, and security technologies for financial services, education, healthcare, retail, industry, transport, energy, and radio and television industries). The company also invests in, produces, and distributes films and television programs; offers copyright licensing, merchandise sales, and other services; provides internet advertisement services; and offers software development, IT and system integration services, and develops and operates mobile games. Formerly known as Tencent (BVI) Limited, it changed its name to Tencent Holdings Limited in February 2004. Founded in 1998, it is headquartered in Shenzhen, the People's Republic of China.
Manus Seeks $500 Million at $4 Billion Valuation After Meta Deal Unwound
Chinese AI startup Manus is reportedly seeking roughly $500 million in fresh financing that could double its valuation to $4 billion, only months after regulators forced the unwinding of its proposed acquisition by Meta Platforms. The round would make Manus China's most valuable AI-agent company if completed, and would mark its first major capital raise since its relationship with Meta was dismantled. The two companies had agreed to a roughly $2 billion acquisition before Chinese authorities intervened over concerns that Manus had not notified regulators before signing and that the deal could set a precedent for valuable Chinese AI technology moving into U.S. hands. Meta had already integrated Manus into internal systems and its advertising platform before the transaction was unwound; the companies completed their operational separation in May and stopped sharing data, with Manus' founders and existing investors including Tencent, HSG and ZhenFund buying Meta's shares back at the original $2 billion valuation. Terms of the new financing are still under discussion and could change, and the report did not indicate whether existing backer Tencent would participate; a successful raise could help Manus remain independent and potentially move closer to a Hong Kong IPO.
GMI Cloud Seeks $300M Loan for Nvidia Chips at Thailand Facility
GMI Cloud, a partner of Nvidia, is seeking a $300M loan to buy chips for its facility in Thailand, according to Bloomberg. The US-based data center operator has approached banks and private credit funds for the self-arranged financing, which would pay yields in the low-teens. Proceeds would fund chip purchases for GMI Cloud's facility, housed in ST Telemedia Global Data Centres' site in Thailand, with Tencent named as the user of the chips. The deal adds to a growing list of similar arrangements in Asia.
Enflame Technology's revenue dependency on Tencent climbed from 33.34% in 2023 to 37.77% in 2024 and reached 83.79% by 2025, exposing the extreme customer concentration behind China's domestic AI chip push. The company, one of China's four little GPU dragons alongside Moore Threads, MetaX, and Biren, holds only about 1.7% of the domestic AI accelerator market against Nvidia's 55% dominance, yet was priced at roughly $25.5 billion at its September 2026 Shanghai STAR Market debut, where it raised approximately $912 million. Tencent holds approximately 17.95% post-IPO as largest shareholder while also accounting for over 83% of revenue, a dual role that mirrors Cambricon's collapse after Huawei shifted to its own Ascend chips. Enflame's revenue grew from RMB 301 million in 2023 to RMB 990 million in 2025, but the company has accumulated over RMB 4.3 billion in losses, including net losses of RMB 1.164 billion in 2025 alone, and its break-even target of 2026-2027 rests on Tencent's demand continuing to outpace supply. Forward guidance projects RMB 2.3-3.0 billion in revenue for the first three quarters of 2026, a bet on permanent state-backed expansion of the domestic hardware supply chain that also underpins Tencent's backing of DeepSeek, which is eyeing a $74 billion valuation.
Tencent Cloud Partners With Malaysia's U Mobile on 5G and AI
Tencent Holdings, through Tencent Cloud, has entered a new partnership with Malaysian mobile operator U Mobile to develop enterprise 5G and AI solutions. The agreement focuses on offering cloud based, AI enabled services to Malaysian businesses that use U Mobile's 5G network. The collaboration marks Tencent Cloud's first official AI focused tie up with a telecommunications provider in Malaysia. The U Mobile tie up is only one part of the broader Tencent Holdings story, fitting into its existing business services arm rather than operating as a standalone side project, and it signals Tencent Cloud trying to turn its AI tools into exportable infrastructure for emerging Asian markets. Investors are advised to watch how management frames Tencent Cloud's Malaysia region and 5G collaborations in upcoming quarterly reports, especially any concrete disclosure on enterprise customer wins or AI service usage tied to U Mobile beyond 2026.
Tencent Cloud and U Mobile Sign MOU for Enterprise 5G and AI in Malaysia
Tencent Cloud, the cloud business of Tencent, has signed a strategic Memorandum of Understanding with U Mobile, Malaysia's newest 5G network provider, to explore practical 5G and AI solutions for enterprises and SMEs. The collaboration combines Tencent Cloud's AI and cloud capabilities with U Mobile's ULTRA5G network, enterprise reach and Enterprise Innovation Platform, and marks Tencent Cloud's first official AI-focused partnership with a Malaysian telecommunications provider. As a strategic partner of the Enterprise Innovation Platform, Tencent Cloud will work with U Mobile through the platform's Develop, Test and Demonstrate pathway, under which selected AI-driven digital solutions can be developed and validated against real industry challenges, with successful use cases potentially progressing to pilot deployments, commercialisation and go-to-market opportunities. Poshu Yeung, Senior Vice President of Tencent Cloud and Head of Tencent Cloud International, said the partnership will help enterprises, SMEs and developers build impactful 5G and AI applications, while U Mobile Chief Technology Officer Woon Ooi Yuen said the tie-up brings together 5G, AI and cloud technologies to turn promising ideas into practical solutions. The two companies will engage businesses, startups, developers, academia and technology partners through workshops, demonstrations, innovation sessions and pilot showcases, and will exchange technical expertise in 5G, AI, system integration, security and enterprise deployment.
Enflame Founders Become Billionaires as Chipmaker Debuts Up 234%
Shanghai Enflame Technology Co. co-founders Zhao Lidong and Zhang Yalin each reached a fortune of $2.5 billion after the Chinese chipmaker's shares soared as much as 234% on their first day of trading Friday in Shanghai, even though the company has never turned a profit since it began in 2018. Enflame, which has fewer than 900 employees and one major customer, is 20% owned by Tencent Holdings Ltd, which is also its biggest client and generated nearly 84% of Enflame's 990 million yuan, or $138 million, in revenue in 2025. The company posted a net loss of 1.16 billion yuan, or $160 million, in 2025 as it invested heavily in research and development, and it faces supply chain bottlenecks, competition from global rivals such as Nvidia Corp. and geopolitical uncertainties that have led to multiple quarters of losses. In late 2023, geopolitical tensions forced Enflame to downgrade certain chip designs to maintain access to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.'s operations, and it has leaned heavily on Chinese state-backed computing projects in cities like Wuxi and Qingyang to generate revenue. The two co-founders, who worked at Advanced Micro Devices Inc. before starting Enflame, are subject to lengthy lockup periods and must meet certain targets before they can cash out; Enflame didn't respond to requests for comment.
Enflame Technology Surges 223% in Shanghai Debut After $912 Million IPO
Chinese AI chipmaker Enflame Technology soared more than 223% in its Shanghai debut on Friday after raising 6.12 billion yuan, or $912 million, in its initial public offering. The Tencent-backed company opened at RMB 410 and climbed as high as RMB 460, according to the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Enflame is considered one of China's "four little dragons" of AI chipmaking and is the last of that group to go public, following MetaX's and Moore Threads' debuts last year and Biren Technology's listing in January. Investors are betting domestic chipmakers can chip away at Nvidia's dominance in China, where Nvidia-led international players controlled nearly 60% of the country's AI accelerator market in 2025, according to IDC data cited in Enflame's prospectus. Founded in 2018, Enflame posted revenue of RMB 990 million, or $147.62 million, in 2025, up from RMB 722 million the previous year, though it has yet to turn a profit, and it said it will use the IPO proceeds to develop and commercialize its fifth- and sixth-generation AI chips.
Tencent-backed Enflame Technology triples in value on Shanghai listing
Enflame Technology, a Chinese artificial intelligence chipmaker backed by Tencent, listed on the Shanghai market on the 11th, with its share price surging about 200 percent. The company raised 6.12 billion yuan, or 912 million dollars, in its initial public offering. Its shares opened at 410 yuan against an offer price of 142.18 yuan, climbed as high as 475 yuan, and then fell back to around 430 yuan. Shen Meng, a director at Beijing-based investment bank Chanson Capital, said the company's graphics processing chip business offers investors a clear growth outlook, and that interest in domestic substitutes has risen amid US restrictions on advanced chip supplies to China. Tencent is Enflame Technology's largest shareholder, with a 17.95 percent stake after the initial public offering. According to the prospectus, Tencent-related business accounted for 83.79 percent of the company's revenue in 2025.
DeepSeek Secondary Market Valuation Hits $71 Billion After Fundraising Halt
DeepSeek's implied valuation on the secondary market has climbed to approximately $71 billion even after its formal fundraising process stalled, according to reports cited by the Financial Times. The company closed its first major external round in June 2026 at a $52 billion post-money valuation, raising $7.4 billion from investors including Tencent, CATL, and NetEase, with founder Liang Wenfeng personally committing $3 billion. A follow-on attempt to raise a second round at a $71 billion pre-money target was suspended on July 25, 2026, after leaked comments from the founder about China's AI lag and dependence on Nvidia chips went viral. With the primary market closed, Special Purpose Vehicles offering DeepSeek equity with escalating fees and five-year lock-ups have proliferated, as investors weigh the liquidity risk against a potential Q2 2027 debut on the Shanghai STAR Market. The company, which generates $500 million in annualized revenue and posts 70-80% gross margins on cloud access, is being valued as national infrastructure rather than on standard revenue multiples, with a STAR Market filing targeted for the end of 2026.
Alibaba to Lead $300M Round in AI Startup UniPat at $2.5B Valuation
Alibaba Group Holding is slated to lead a $300M investment round in AI training and benchmarking startup UniPat AI, valuing the company at $2.5B, Bloomberg News reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The financing is expected to close soon, with participation from Tencent Holdings Ltd. and existing backer HSG, formerly Sequoia China, though sources noted talks remain in progress and final terms could change. Founded in late 2025 by former Alibaba Tongyi AI lab intern Li Kuan, UniPat generates synthetic training data and designs evaluation scenarios for coding agents, web browser automation, and visual reasoning models. The deal highlights the high premium tech giants are placing on AI testing and synthetic data as frontier models run low on human-generated data and struggle with inflated leaderboard scores. UniPat's research lab also develops lightweight models for scientific research and predictive applications, supported by early investors Monolith and ByteDance-backed Jinqiu Fund, and the company joins a growing global market alongside U.S. data annotation and benchmarking players including Scale AI, Mercor, and Artificial Analysis.
Bilibili Completes $500M Convertible Notes Offering and Concurrent Share Repurchases
Bilibili Inc. announced the completion of its US$500 million marketed offering of convertible senior notes due 2031, along with a concurrent equity placement and a delta repurchase. The company repurchased 6,795,540 Class Z ordinary shares at the reference price of HK$115.38 per share as part of the Concurrent Delta Repurchase, which is one component of a separate special share repurchase program of up to US$300 million. The Concurrent Equity Placement, totaling 33,351,660 Class Z ordinary shares, included 6,976,760 shares borrowed from third parties and 26,374,900 shares sold by a Tencent subsidiary. The company also repurchased approximately US$100 million of its shares in the overall transaction, while Tencent's subscription for an additional US$200 million in notes and the company's repurchase of approximately US$200 million of shares from Tencent remain subject to shareholder approval at an extraordinary general meeting.
AI Labs Diverge on IPO Strategies as Anthropic Drops Decart Deal
Anthropic's decision to abandon its roughly $6 billion acquisition of Decart in early September signals a strategic pivot among frontier AI labs as they prepare for public market entry, prioritizing operational simplicity over rapid capability expansion. OpenAI is framing its IPO around infrastructure, with a confidential S-1 filing with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley following an $852 billion post-money valuation as of March 31, 2026, and a commitment to the $105 billion Nvidia-OpenAI Ohio facility featuring 4.25 GW of power and a 20-year lease, though CFO Sarah Friar has signaled a timeline shift toward 2027. Anthropic is targeting an October 2026 IPO at a roughly $965 billion post-money valuation, supported by a $65 billion Series H round, and has filed confidentially on June 1, 2026, while managing a $71 billion off-balance-sheet debt structure through Apollo and Blackstone and resolving a $1.5 billion copyright settlement. In contrast, Chinese firms DeepSeek and Moonshot AI are anchoring to domestic sovereign capital, with DeepSeek targeting a Shanghai STAR Market debut in 2027 at a $74 billion valuation backed by Tencent, CATL, and NetEase, and Moonshot AI filing a confidential A1 with the HKEX targeting a $50 billion valuation. The AI pricing war is fundamentally a tool for financial storytelling, as labs must prove their high-end capabilities can command a premium, with the EU AI Act adding a compliance cost baseline to all strategies.
DeepSeek Plans STAR Market IPO, Valuation Could Reach $75 Billion
DeepSeek, a Chinese artificial intelligence startup, is moving forward with plans for an initial public offering in the country, selecting CITIC Securities as its financial advisor for a listing on the Shanghai Stock Exchange's STAR Market, according to two sources. The company aims to begin the IPO process by 2026, but has not yet set an official timeline, amount, or target valuation. This move comes amid a new funding round that could value the company at up to 500 billion yuan, or approximately $75 billion. Previously, the company raised $7.4 billion in June, with a post-money valuation of over $50 billion. DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng personally invested 20 billion yuan, while Tencent Holdings invested 10 billion yuan and CATL invested 5 billion yuan. The new funds will be used to support computing infrastructure, AI model development, and talent retention, amid intense competition with leading AI companies in China and the United States.
Tencent Cloud Partners with Bookme to Power Global Expansion
Tencent Cloud, the cloud business of global technology company Tencent, has announced a collaboration with Bookme, the fastest-growing travel and e-ticketing platform across the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan, and Pakistan (MENAP), to provide scalable cloud infrastructure and technical expertise for Bookme's consumer platforms and embedded booking services. Over the past 13 years, Bookme has digitized Pakistan's ticketing industry and now serves more than 15 million customers, with a presence in five additional regions including the Middle East and North Africa. Tencent Cloud's infrastructure, monitoring, security, and support will help Bookme manage extensive global travel inventory—spanning flights across over 500 airlines and more than one million hotels—and handle demand spikes during travel peaks and promotions. The collaboration also supports Bookme's future service enhancements and ecosystem development across multiple markets, reflecting Tencent Cloud's commitment to enabling digital transformation in the travel and technology sectors.
Tencent Backs Enflame in AI-Chip Challenge to Nvidia's China Moat
Tencent Holdings has backed a serious homegrown assault on Nvidia's grip over China's roughly $90 billion AI-chip market through its investment in Enflame, which raised $908 million at a $9.1 billion valuation after first-quarter sales growth of 1,475%. Tencent shares slipped 0.99% to HK$438.40 on Monday, trading at $56.6 in the US, leaving the stock 18.46% below its GF Value estimate of $69.41. Enflame is still losing money, so chip performance, customer adoption, and a credible path to profitability are the metrics that matter. Tencent's second-quarter revenue rose 11% to RMB204.8 billion, but capital expenditure rocketed 176% to RMB52.8 billion, and free cash flow slipped to negative RMB13.8 billion. Domestic accelerators could protect Tencent from U.S. export restrictions and strengthen its cloud and AI businesses, but the investment only becomes strategic gold if it delivers cheaper, dependable computing power.
Xi to Bring Top Chinese Business Leaders to Trump Summit
Chinese President Xi Jinping is reportedly preparing to lead a large delegation of business executives on his forthcoming visit to Washington for a September 24 summit with President Trump, according to Reuters. The last significant business contingent led by Xi to the U.S. was in 2015, which included founders and executives from Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, Tencent Holdings Ltd, and other Chinese banks and state-owned firms, and during that visit China signed a $38 billion agreement for 300 Boeing Co. aircraft. The inclusion of business leaders could signal China's willingness to support investment and commercial ties with the U.S., and may provide the White House with potential economic victories ahead of the midterm elections, a source told Reuters. Trump has previously visited China with large groups of U.S. business leaders, including Nvidia Corp. CEO Jensen Huang and Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk, among others, to seek greater access to Chinese markets. The upcoming visit could also lead to new announcements on agriculture and non-tariff barriers to expand American farm exports to China, as stated by U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, who added that they are not looking for another sweeping trade pact but aiming to manage the relationship.
Moonshot AI Files for Hong Kong IPO at $50 Billion Valuation
Chinese artificial-intelligence startup Moonshot AI has confidentially filed for a Hong Kong IPO that could raise roughly $3 billion, carrying a valuation of about $50 billion. Founded in 2023 by AI researcher Yang Zhilin, Moonshot develops the Kimi family of large language models, with its latest Kimi K3 model featuring 2.8 trillion parameters and a one-million-token context window. The Beijing-based company is working with Goldman Sachs, China International Capital Corp., and Deutsche Bank on the offering, and has raised over $5.5 billion from investors including Alibaba, Tencent, and IDG Capital. Moonshot is also discussing revenue-sharing arrangements with Microsoft, Amazon, and Google that could place Kimi K3 on major U.S. cloud platforms, seeking up to a 30% share of revenue from such deals. A successful listing would give public investors a rare benchmark for valuing a standalone Chinese large-language-model developer, amid intensifying competition with U.S. AI leaders.
Baidu CFO Says AI Investments Could Match Search Profitability
Baidu Inc.'s CFO Henry He said the company's investment in AI could start generating profits and cash payback in the near term, matching those of its legacy search business. Baidu's AI revenue, which includes cloud computing and applications, now generates over half of the company's sales, and the finance chief expects the upward trend to continue. He noted in an interview with Bloomberg Television that the profit margin on Baidu's AI revenue could match that of the search business in the near term, due to stronger demand for its cloud and chips. He also said that investments in new GPU clusters hosting AI services could fully pay for themselves in two to three years, echoing rival Alibaba Group. Baidu is facing intense competition from bigger Chinese AI rivals including Alibaba, Tencent Holdings, and ByteDance, and its Ernie AI models have fallen behind open-weight competitors. The CFO has also spearheaded plans for an independent listing of Baidu's AI chip unit Kunlunxin, a $5 billion share repurchase program, and the company's first-ever dividend policy. Last month, Baidu reported second-quarter revenue of 31.3 billion yuan ($4.62 billion), down 4% year over year and missed the $4.65 billion analyst estimate.
Tencent Rises as Enflame IPO Draws 6,109 Times Demand
Tencent rose to $56.19 on Wednesday as demand for Enflame's initial public offering surged, with the online tranche subscribed 6,109 times. More than seven million accounts chased the shares, but only 0.025% secured an allocation, roughly one winner per 4,000 applications. Enflame, backed by Tencent, is raising 6.1 billion yuan, or about $908 million, to develop fifth- and sixth-generation AI processors. Tencent's second-quarter results showed revenue rising 11% to 204.8 billion yuan, while attributable profit increased less than 1% to 56 billion yuan. At $56.19, the stock trades 18.55% below its $68.99 GF Value estimate, indicating a valuation gap.
ECARX to Integrate Tencent Cloud's WorkBuddy AI Across Flyme Ecosystem
ECARX Holdings Inc. announced that Tencent Cloud's WorkBuddy, an AI-powered smart work assistant, will be integrated with Flyme AIOS, the intelligent operating system ECARX has agreed to acquire, through joint development of WorkBuddy AI tools across the entire Flyme ecosystem. Building on Flyme's existing Super Aicy AI assistant, WorkBuddy will deliver agentic-AI capabilities to all Flyme-powered devices, including smartphones, AI devices, and Flyme Auto for in-vehicle use, creating a unified AI workbench. Users can issue natural-language prompts to draft documents, create reports, organize data, and automate workflows, with WorkBuddy's cloud backend processing requests and returning validated results directly in the conversation thread. WorkBuddy serves 12 industries with over 140 AI advisors and more than 22,000 skills and plugins, offering both on-device processing and secure cloud sandbox execution. Flyme AIOS will become part of ECARX's full-stack software infrastructure, which spans multi-screen cabin interaction, mobile-IoT-vehicle connectivity, middleware, UI/UX frameworks, and application-development toolkits.
Xiaomi to Unveil New Foldable Smartphone on September 7
Xiaomi is set to unveil a new foldable smartphone on September 7, intensifying competition with Huawei and Apple. The launch is seen as part of the company's strategy to strengthen its presence in the high-end market. Meanwhile, Alibaba has made a minor upgrade to its flagship AI model, and Tencent has officially launched its "WorkBuddy" open platform, with over 100 companies participating. In addition, among China's emerging EV makers' August sales, Leapmotor performed well, while Seres Group fell below 30,000 units for the second consecutive month.
Alibaba's April-June Quarter Profit Falls 75% as AI Investment Burden Weighs
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba announced its April-June quarter results on August 20, with net profit plunging 75% year-on-year to 10.444 billion yuan, weighed down by heavy upfront investments in AI and other tech sectors. Revenue rose 9% to 268.953 billion yuan, slightly beating market expectations, but capital expenditure surged 75% to 67.678 billion yuan, pressuring profits. Alibaba underwent an organizational restructuring, with the "AI Cloud Computing Services" division, which integrates cloud business and AI semiconductors, posting a strong 45% revenue growth, while the division centered on its AI service "Qianwen" grew only 16%, highlighting the difficulty of monetization. Similarly, Tencent's April-June quarter net profit remained nearly flat at 56 billion yuan, dragged down by AI application development costs. In contrast, memory chip maker ChangXin Memory Technologies saw its January-March quarter net profit surge to 24.7 billion yuan, and shortly after its listing, it jumped to the top of China's listed companies by market capitalization. Only AI infrastructure businesses are profitable, while AI's own revenue contribution remains a distant prospect.
Tencent Cloud and Elastic Expand AI Search Collaboration
Tencent Cloud and Elastic have announced an expanded strategic collaboration in Shenzhen to deepen technical and product cooperation across AI search, enterprise data, and agentic applications, aiming to help enterprises build dedicated context infrastructure for the AI era. The two companies jointly launched Tencent Cloud Elasticsearch Service (ES) Enterprise Edition, which integrates Elastic's enterprise-grade search and AI capabilities. Elastic's Search AI Platform is used by more than 50% of the Fortune 500, and Tencent Cloud has offered Elasticsearch-based services since 2016. In selected AI search scenarios, performance has improved by up to 5x, hybrid search latency has fallen by 60%, and memory consumption has been reduced by more than 50%. Tencent Cloud Elasticsearch Service now runs 20,000 clusters and 100,000 nodes, supporting search traffic peaks for large-scale events like the CMG Spring Festival Gala and the Paris Olympic Games.
Tencent's Hy4 AI Activates Only 6.4% of Its 770 Billion Parameters
Tencent Holdings released the preview weights of its Hy4 AI model on Friday, revealing a 770-billion-parameter backbone that activates just 49 billion parameters per token, or 6.4% of the network. The model supports a one-million-token context window and will power Tencent's CodeBuddy and WorkBuddy products. In internal tests across 203 engineering tasks, Hy4 scored 2.99 out of four, narrowly beating GLM 5.3 and Kimi K3 by 2.4% and 1.7%, respectively. Tencent's stock, priced at $58.01, sits 13.78% below its GF Value estimate of $67.28, suggesting investors are not yet paying full price for its AI ambitions. The company now faces the challenge of converting Hy4's technical lead into commercial success.
Tencent Cloud Partners with TruKKer in Saudi Arabia
Tencent Cloud, the cloud business of global technology company Tencent, has announced a partnership with TruKKer, MENA's largest digital freight network, to migrate TruKKer's platform to Tencent Cloud's Saudi Arabia region and adopt CodeBuddy, Tencent's AI-powered coding assistant, as part of a strategic initiative to transform its DevOps practices. The agreement, announced ahead of Tencent Cloud's participation at LEAP 2026, marks the latest milestone in Tencent Cloud's deepening commitment to Saudi Arabia and the wider Middle East, building on its first Middle East Cloud Region in Saudi Arabia announced in 2025, which features two availability zones and a business operation commitment of more than US$150 million. Tencent Cloud also recently obtained the Class C License in Saudi Arabia, the highest certification tier for cloud service providers. The announcement coincides with the global rollout of Tencent's Hy3 AI model, which has recorded more than 68 times as many API calls as its previous-generation model, and is accessible to businesses and developers across the region through platforms like WorkBuddy, Tencent Design Miora, and Tencent Cloud TokenHub. The partnership underscores the accelerating AI adoption in Saudi Arabia, where 45.2% of internet users have adopted AI tools and the national cloud computing market is valued at approximately US$5.5 billion in 2026, projected to reach US$11.47 billion by 2031.
Tencent Holdings spent HK$300.4 million repurchasing 672,000 shares on Wednesday, as the stock rose 0.8% to $56.77, with an average price of HK$447.02 per share. The repurchased shares will be cancelled, and the company has now bought back about 41.46 million shares under its current mandate, representing 0.455% of the original share count. This buyback activity follows strong second-quarter results, where revenue increased 11% to RMB204.8 billion and fintech and business-services sales rose 9% to RMB60.3 billion. At $56.77, Tencent trades 16.72% below its GF Value estimate of $68.17, suggesting the buybacks are value-accretive. The challenge ahead is whether buybacks can consistently offset employee stock awards and the cash needs of Tencent's AI investments.
Chinese tech and automotive company Xpeng has raised over US$900 million for its robotics business, achieving a post-money valuation of over US$6.3 billion, in what it claims is the largest single-round private financing ever recorded in China's embodied AI industry. The funding round was led by IDG Capital and joined by Gaorong Ventures, with Tencent and Alibaba participating as strategic investors. Xpeng's 'Iron' humanoid robot, which features 76 degrees of freedom and three Turing AI chips, is slated for large-scale deliveries in 2027. The company also reported Q2 revenues of RMB19.74 billion and a gross margin of 20.7%, with overseas deliveries surpassing 20,000 units.
Tencent joins Alibaba in backing Xpeng's Dogotix robotics venture
Tencent Holdings has joined Alibaba as a lead investor in Dogotix, the humanoid robotics spin-out from Xpeng, backing a US$900 million funding round. The deal marks Tencent's entry into a standalone humanoid robotics venture outside its existing software, platform and cloud operations. Tencent's move highlights growing interest from large Chinese tech companies in AI-enabled hardware and robotics projects. The company earns most of its money from value added services, marketing, and fintech, so backing Dogotix gives it exposure to humanoid robotics that sits outside its traditional software and platform focus. Tencent's latest quarterly revenue was CNY 204,785 million with net income of CNY 56,022 million.
Chinese AI chipmaker Enflame to open Shanghai IPO subscriptions on September 2, raising 6 billion yuan
Enflame Technology, a Chinese AI chipmaker, will begin accepting subscriptions on September 2 for its initial public offering on the Shanghai Stock Exchange's STAR Market for high-tech companies. The company is expected to raise 6 billion yuan, or 892.21 million dollars, according to documents filed with regulators on the night of the 24th. Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings has invested in the company, which will issue 43.04 million new shares as part of the IPO. That represents 10 percent of the post-offering total share count of about 430 million shares, and an investor demand survey to help set the price will begin on August 28. Of the newly issued shares, 8.61 million will be allocated to strategic investors, 27.54 million to institutional investors, and 6.89 million to retail investors. Founded in 2018 and headquartered in Shanghai, Enflame is considered one of China's four domestic GPU startups, alongside Moore Threads, MetaX, and Biren Technology.
XPeng Sinks 7% as Q2 Miss Overshadows $6.3B Robotics Valuation
XPeng stock sank 7% after its Q3 revenue guidance missed Wall Street consensus by roughly 15%, dragging NIO down 4% in sympathy. XPeng reported Q2 2026 revenue of RMB19.74 billion, up 8% year over year but below expectations, and guided Q3 revenue to RMB21.7 billion to RMB23.4 billion versus a RMB25.88 billion consensus. The company's IRON humanoid robotics unit raised over $900 million at a post-money valuation above $6.3 billion, the largest single-round private financing in China's embodied AI industry, with Tencent and Alibaba joining as strategic investors. Tesla slipped 2% and Lucid fell 1%, while Rivian rose 0.7% against the trend.
Shein launches Hong Kong IPO at $27 billion valuation
Shein Global Holdings Limited launched its global offering on Monday, selling approximately 280 million Class B shares at between HK$47.60 and HK$49.50 per share, valuing the company at close to $27 billion at the top of that range. Total proceeds could reach HK$13.86 billion, or about $1.77 billion, with the final price expected August 31 and trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange set to begin September 1 under stock code 00625. The valuation is down roughly 70% from the $98.2 billion private-market valuation Shein carried in 2022 and less than half the $64 billion figure from 2023 and April 2024. Cornerstone investors including Boyu Capital, Tiger Global, and General Atlantic committed about $383 million, while Tencent, Greenwoods, Taikang Life, and UBS Asset Management will also take stock. Revenue growth slowed to 8% in 2025 from 20.7% the prior year and to 1.1% in the first quarter of 2026, when Shein posted a $99 million net loss after the U.S. eliminated a duty exemption on small packages from China. The four co-founders will collectively hold 90% of voting power, and the listing is the biggest new share issuance on the Hong Kong exchange this year, topping Momenta Global's $751 million raise in July.
Alibaba shares drop 10% after raising 10.2 billion dollars for AI investment
Alibaba shares fell 10% in the Hong Kong stock market after the company announced the issuance of 710 million new shares to raise 80 billion Hong Kong dollars, or about 10.2 billion US dollars, with all the funds to be invested in artificial intelligence, or AI, amid intensifying competition among Chinese technology companies. The new shares will be offered to investors outside the United States at 112.70 Hong Kong dollars per share, below Friday's closing price of 123 Hong Kong dollars, and the offering is expected to be completed on Wednesday. After the plan was announced, the stock plunged as much as 10% before recovering slightly to trade down about 8.4% at 112.70 Hong Kong dollars. The fundraising comes just days after Alibaba reported a 75% drop in profit for the quarter ending in June, as capital expenditure rose 75% to 67.7 billion yuan. Meanwhile, Vey-Sern Ling, senior equity adviser at UBP, said Alibaba is well positioned for AI-driven growth opportunities, but accelerated investment could weaken earnings in the short term. Alibaba announced plans to invest at least 380 billion yuan in cloud computing and AI infrastructure over three years, while major rival Tencent reported a 65% increase in capital expenditure in the latest quarter to 52.8 billion yuan.
InnovestX says AI is accelerating Chinese tech investment, driving data centers and chips to build a domestic ecosystem
InnovestX Securities views AI as still a key driver for Chinese tech, as hyperscalers accelerate capital spending to support data centers and AI computing, while foreign chip technology restrictions push China to build a domestic supply chain. The firm expects the share of AI server system production in China to reach more than 90% by 2030, up from about 70% in 2025, and the share of chip production for AI inference to rise to more than 50% from below 10% over the same period. Capital expenditure estimates for Chinese hyperscalers Alibaba, Tencent, ByteDance and Baidu have been revised up by 28%, 74%, 67% and 82% respectively, reflecting an acceleration in expanding AI and data processing capabilities. Mr. Sittichai Duangrattanachaya, Head of Investment Strategy at InnovestX Securities, said at the economic and investment seminar "Final Call 2026" that the next phase of the AI game is not about investing in the trend, but about finding winners in each layer of the ecosystem, from chips to data centers and energy. Investors should shift from buying the AI theme to selecting companies that genuinely benefit from AI. He recommended three groups of Chinese stocks: China Internet and Tech such as Tencent, Alibaba and GDS; China Semiconductor such as SMIC, Hua Hong and NAURA; and China Non-Tech such as CATL, HKEX and AIA.
Tech Stocks at a Turning Point: Proving Real AI Profits
Major technology companies are facing a pivotal shift from the AI boom to proving who can actually generate profits. After the latest earnings reports, investors are beginning to question who has enough money to keep funding massive investments. Reuters estimates that Big Tech will spend more than 700 billion dollars on capital expenditure in 2026. Alphabet has raised its 2026 capital expenditure forecast to between 195 billion and 205 billion dollars, and posted negative free cash flow of 5.9 billion dollars in the second quarter. Meanwhile, Meta's free cash flow fell 91 percent to just 784 million dollars, with full-year capital expenditure expected at 130 billion to 145 billion dollars. Amazon, Alphabet, Meta and Oracle have issued bonds totaling about 194 billion dollars this year, up 79 percent from a year earlier. Tencent accelerated its latest quarterly capital expenditure to 52.8 billion yuan, up from 31.9 billion yuan in the previous quarter. Investors should therefore change how they view AI stocks, focusing on companies with pricing power that can generate revenue from AI faster than their costs and convert capital expenditure back into real free cash flow.
Tencent Gains Access to Nvidia H200 AI Chips in China
Tencent Holdings is receiving shipments of Nvidia H200 AI chips under a new Chinese policy that permits limited deliveries to domestic tech giants. The H200 processors are expected to support Tencent's domestic AI projects within its cloud, advertising and consumer platforms. Chinese authorities are using controlled access to advanced Nvidia chips to back local AI development while keeping export rules in view. The move may influence how Tencent allocates capital to data centres and AI infrastructure alongside local chip alternatives.
Alibaba Tops Chinese Tech Stocks This Quarter on AI Resurgence
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. has surged 36% in Hong Kong this quarter, topping the Hang Seng Tech Index and reclaiming its place as a favorite among Chinese technology stocks on bets it can beat rivals in artificial intelligence. The rally, ahead of results due later Thursday, puts Alibaba on track for its biggest quarterly outperformance against Tencent Holdings Ltd. since early 2025. Alibaba is spending heavily across its generative model, cloud and chip operations, while Tencent focuses its AI strategy on social media and content businesses. The company is expected to report 8.4% revenue growth for the June quarter, the fastest in almost three years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Analysts project a profit decline amid continued huge outlays, but JPMorgan Chase & Co. analyst Alex Yao wrote that earnings may be better than feared thanks to narrower losses tied to food delivery and quick commerce investment, along with revenue acceleration and margin increase in its cloud business.
Chinese humanoid robot maker Unitree surged about 600% on its market debut, valuing the company at around $50 billion as retail investors flocked to the IPO on the tech-focused STAR Market. The startup, which competes with Hyundai Motor Group-owned Boston Dynamics and Tesla, has backing from Tencent, Alibaba and DeepSeek, and at least a half dozen other Chinese humanoid robotics firms are preparing to go public. Meanwhile, U.S. Treasury yields remain near multi-decade highs but got some relief after a below-forecast industrial production report, with attention turning to the 20-year bond auction and minutes from the Federal Reserve's July meeting. Analysts point to a rising term premium on long bonds, near its highest in a decade, as investors demand compensation for debt sustainability uncertainties. Crude oil prices stayed elevated amid the Iran conflict, while the crack spread between crude and diesel futures hit a record high, signaling higher fuel costs ahead.
Tencent Cloud to open first Malaysia cloud region in Johor
Tencent Cloud announced it will establish its first Cloud Region in Malaysia, comprising up to three availability zones in Johor. The new region will join Tencent Cloud International's global infrastructure network, which currently spans 66 Availability Zones across 23 regions. Tencent Cloud also announced a collaboration with Universiti Teknologi Malaysia to train more than 1,000 digital and AI talents over the coming years. The announcement was made at Tencent Cloud C-Suite Dialogue 2026, where the company showcased AI solutions including Tencent WorkBuddy, Agent Development Platform, and TokenHub. Tencent Cloud also revealed new collaborations with Boost and Genting Plantations Group to explore AI agent integration.
Alibaba shares jump 5% after Alipay launches new platform
Alibaba shares rose as much as 5% in Hong Kong after Alipay launched a new all-in-one platform for businesses using AI agents for automation. The stock has climbed more than 40% from its June low ahead of this week's June quarter earnings report. Analysts expect revenue to grow 8.4%, while free cash flow remains negative due to AI investment. Steven Leung of UOB Kay Hian said funds are rotating into Alibaba and out of Tencent Holdings after Tencent reported sluggish results, with Alibaba seen as having clearer growth from cloud services.
Tencent published its Carbon Neutrality Mid-Term Report, detailing progress toward achieving carbon neutrality across its own operations and supply chain by 2030. The report highlights that renewable electricity consumption increased from 22.0% in 2024 to 48.5% in 2025, while owned data centers achieved an 82.9% renewable electricity share. Since announcing its carbon neutrality commitment, Tencent has procured more than 6.5 billion kWh of green electricity. The company also outlined AI-era priorities, including its T-AIDC next-generation data center architecture designed for high-density computing with power-supply efficiency of up to 98%, and initiatives like the CarbonX Program and TanLIVE climate intelligence platform to support decarbonization beyond its own operations.
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