The Tencent logo is displayed connected the exterior of a gathering astatine the company’s headquarters, with a surveillance camera disposable successful the foreground, connected November 30, 2024, successful Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China.
Cheng Xin | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Tencent plans to grow its information halfway footprint successful the Middle East, a apical enforcement astatine the Chinese tech elephantine told CNBC, arsenic the institution looks to boost its unreality computing concern extracurricular China.
Dowson Tong, CEO of Tencent's unreality group, told CNBC that the institution plans to grow the fig of "availability zones," locations designated arsenic sites for imaginable clusters of information centers, for its unreality services implicit the adjacent 12 to 18 months, successful countries crossed Asia Pacific, Europe, and the Middle East.
In the Middle East, Tencent is "actively" exploring gathering information centers determination to work unreality customers, Dowson added.
"We bash mean to summation our concern successful the portion and found a stronger concern network. And that's each successful the plan," helium said, declining to springiness much circumstantial timelines oregon countries wherever precisely the availability zones mightiness be.
Tencent's planned enlargement successful the Middle East comes arsenic countries successful the portion gully successful immense investments from tech giants to physique AI information centers and different computing infrastructure.
Last year, Nvidia, OpenAI and others committed to gathering a massive AI infrastructure task nether the Stargate brand successful the United Arab Emirates.
In August, analysts astatine Gartner forecast accusation exertion spending successful the Middle East and North Africa portion to deed $155 cardinal successful 2025, up astir 9% year-on-year and supra the planetary maturation rate.
Tencent has already opened an availability portion successful Saudi Arabia. Further enlargement successful the Middle East volition apt enactment it into much nonstop contention with U.S. giants, including Amazon, Microsoft and Google.
Dowson said Tencent already has customers successful Saudi Arabia buying its unreality services, specified arsenic Keeta, the planetary nutrient transportation subsidiary of Chinese elephantine Meituan. Tencent, which is 1 of the world's largest gaming companies, has gaming firms successful the portion besides utilizing its Saudi-based unreality services, Dowson added.
While astir of Tencent's gross inactive comes from gaming, the institution has sought to diversify its concern by expanding different areas, including unreality computing.
Tencent is hoping to differentiate itself from U.S. rivals by utilizing its beardown lawsuit basal successful China to grow internationally. For example, customers who usage Tencent's unreality successful China whitethorn besides bargain the company's services abroad.
The Middle East is becoming a cardinal country of enlargement for Chinese firms.
Lenovo, the world's biggest PC company, has acceptable up its determination office successful Saudi Arabia and is presently gathering a manufacturing works there.
"I deliberation there's truthful overmuch inaugural and concern going into ... the Middle East. So I deliberation we're precise excited astir the accidental there," Winston Cheng, CFO of Lenovo, told CNBC successful an interrogation past week.
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