A month after Beijing called for a technology-centric upgrade of the Chinese economy, Tencent has said it will invest $70 billion (500 billion yuan) in a range of new technologies including cloud computing, cybersecurity and AI.
The company will also reportedly invest in sectors like blockchain, servers, Big Data, supercomputer centres, IoT, 5G and quantum computing.
Tencent says it expects greater adoption of cloud-based services and enterprise software from traditional companies and government-controlled entities post the COVID-19 epidemic.
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Tencent investment
Known for its popular WeChat messaging app as well as several mobile games, Tencent is now looking to branch out into enterprise services following an ebb in consumer internet growth.
“Expediting the ‘new infrastructure’ strategy will help further cement virus containment success,” said Dowson Tong, senior executive VP of Tencent, said. Post the announcement, the company’s shares rose by 2.5 per cent.
Alibaba also said last month that it would invest 28.27 billion yuan in cloud infrastructure over the next three years. The Chinese e-commerce major has a 46.4 per cent share of China’s cloud market, ahead of Tencent, which has 18 per cent.
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Via: Reuters
