TECH

Tencent Unveils New AI Model to Close Gap With Rivals

Published: Apr. 23, 2026 9:02 p.m. GMT+8

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Advertisement for Tencent’s Yuanbao in Shanghai, Feb. 9, 2026. Photo: IC

Tencent Holdings Ltd. on Thursday launched a new open-source artificial intelligence model, marking its first major technological update since overhauling its AI leadership.

The model, dubbed Hy3 Preview, is a mixture-of-experts system with 295 billion parameters, of which 21 billion are activated, and it can process up to 256,000 tokens of context. It has already been deployed across Tencent’s ecosystem, including its flagship AI chatbot Yuanbao, which will switch its primary underlying model from DeepSeek to the new in-house technology.

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Tencent launched open-source Hy3 Preview AI model (295B parameters, 21B activated, 256K token context), deployed in Yuanbao chatbot replacing DeepSeek.
First update since Yao Shunyu's Dec 2025 appointment as chief AI scientist, emphasizing practical utility over benchmarks.
Yuanbao trails rivals: 57.35M MAU (+8.2M Q1) vs Doubao's 345M (+100M) and Qianwen's 166M (+126M).

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Who’s Who

Tencent Holdings Ltd.: Tencent Holdings Ltd. launched Hy3 Preview, a 295B-parameter MoE AI model (21B active, 256K context), its first major update since AI chief Yao Shunyu's Dec 2025 appointment. Deployed in Yuanbao chatbot (replacing DeepSeek) and ecosystem. Emphasizes real-world utility; Yuanbao trails rivals with 57M MAU vs. Doubao's 345M.

DeepSeek: DeepSeek is a popular open-source AI model previously powering Tencent's Yuanbao chatbot, adopted after Lunar New Year. Yuanbao is switching to Tencent's new Hy3 Preview. By March, DeepSeek had more monthly active users than Yuanbao's 57.35 million, ranking ahead of it among domestic AI apps.

Nvidia Corp.: Tencent has historically been conservative in computing investment and lacks sufficient Nvidia Corp. graphics processing units compared with domestic peers.

ByteDance Ltd.: ByteDance Ltd.'s Doubao AI chatbot gained 100 million new users in Q1 and had 345 million monthly active users by March, far ahead of competitors like Tencent's Yuanbao.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.: Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.'s Qianwen AI gained 126 million new users in Q1 and reached 166 million monthly active users by March, far ahead of Tencent's Yuanbao (57.35 million).

QuestMobile: QuestMobile is a research firm cited in the article, reporting that Tencent's Yuanbao AI chatbot added only 8.2 million new users in Q1 despite promotions, ranking fourth with 57.35 million monthly active users by March. (Competitors: Doubao 345M, Qianwen 166M.)

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