Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings is using Southeast Asia as a launch pad to take its “cost-effective” artificial intelligence tools global, fronted by its workplace assistant WorkBuddy, amid cutthroat competition at home.
The company was targeting existing regional customers of its cloud computing and big data services, particularly in markets such as Indonesia, according to Dowson Tong, CEO of Tencent’s Cloud and Smart Industries Group.
The international push coincided with triple-digit growth in overseas demand for Tencent’s AI services over the past year, with global businesses showing “very high interest and demand” for Chinese AI offerings, Tong said in an opening speech on Thursday at the company’s annual Global Digital Ecosystem Summit in Shenzhen.