Tencent Pushes Forward on AI Despite U.S. Chip Curbs
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Tencent Holdings Ltd. is deploying the high-performance chips it stockpiled in response to the U.S.’ sweeping tech export controls on its revenue-generating businesses, President Martin Lau said, in a sign the Chinese internet behemoth is making a bigger bet on artificial intelligence (AI) to drive growth.
Over the past several months, Tencent has trained its large language models (LLMs) on “a smaller cluster” of graphics processing units and has “achieved very good training results,” freeing up more computational resources for the LLMs’ future iterations, Lau said on a post-earnings call Wednesday.
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- Tencent is deploying stockpiled high-performance chips and homegrown alternatives in response to U.S. tech export controls, focusing on AI growth.
- The company enhanced its AI chatbot Yuanbao with DeepSeek R1 and Hunyuan T1 models, amid an organizational shakeup to accelerate AI development across products like WeChat.
- Tencent’s AI strategy has boosted ad click-through rates to around 3% and improved gaming experience, while future access to advanced chips faces stricter U.S. restrictions.
- Tencent Holdings Ltd.
- Tencent Holdings Ltd., a major Chinese internet company, is utilizing stockpiled high-performance chips to boost its artificial intelligence (AI) efforts. It has enhanced AI efficiency, developed in-house large models, and integrated its AI chatbot Yuanbao with advanced reasoning abilities. Tencent’s “AI in All” strategy has improved ad targeting and video game experiences. However, U.S. export controls and restrictions on chips, including Huawei’s, may pose challenges for Tencent’s AI development in the future.
- Huawei
- According to the article, the U.S. government recently issued guidelines stating that the development and production of Huawei’s most advanced Ascend chips are “likely” in violation of U.S. export controls. Companies or individuals using these Huawei chips without a license may face penalties, which could make it harder for Tencent and others to access such computing chips in the future.
- DeepSeek
- According to the article, DeepSeek is the developer of the reasoning model R1, which Tencent integrated into its AI chatbot Yuanbao in the first quarter of this year. This integration is part of Tencent’s efforts to enhance its AI capabilities and expand the user base of Yuanbao.
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