🇨🇳🇺🇸 Tencent Expands AI Chip Access

Tencent has reportedly signed a five-year deal with Oracle to lease about 100,000 advanced AI chips across multiple data centers in Southeast Asia. The agreement, cited by the Financial Times via two informed sources, is valued at about $7 billion, with Tencent said to prepay 30% of the leasing cost.

The chips are not available in China, where domestic shortages and tighter US export controls have pushed Chinese technology firms to seek computing capacity overseas. US approval of the arrangement indicates Chinese companies may still access top-end Nvidia processors through permitted offshore leasing structures.

The deal supports Tencent’s push to improve its AI models and develop agentic tools, while the company also continues AI hiring and model development domestically. It points to Southeast Asia’s growing role as a regional base for cross-border AI infrastructure.

#China #UnitedStates

@asianomics