- Tencent Cloud has doubled its overseas customer base in the past year, fueled by a surge in demand for AI products
- WorkBuddy, Tencent's AI-powered productivity tool, has processed over 9 billion task requests and is used by half of China's top 500 enterprises
RIYADH: Tencent Cloud has doubled its active overseas customer base over the past year, while international demand for its artificial intelligence products and services has recorded triple-digit growth, the Chinese technology company announced on Thursday.
The figures were revealed at the 2026 Tencent Global Digital Ecosystem Summit, where the company outlined plans to expand its enterprise AI offerings, introduce new AI models and strengthen partnerships across international markets, including the Middle East.
Tencent also unveiled new enterprise capabilities for WorkBuddy, its AI-powered productivity agent, and previewed the upcoming release of its Hy4 and Hy4 Flash models, designed to support complex business tasks and improve operational efficiency.
Dowson Tong, senior executive vice president of Tencent and CEO of its Cloud and Smart Industries Group, said the growing adoption of AI was creating opportunities for businesses seeking to integrate the technology into their daily operations.
“AI is creating new opportunities for businesses, but its real value comes when it can be applied to everyday operations and adopted at scale,” Tong said.
“At Tencent Cloud, we're bringing together our AI models, tools such as WorkBuddy and cloud infrastructure to help more businesses put AI to work, building on their strengths and unlocking new opportunities for growth.”
According to the company, WorkBuddy has processed more than 9 billion task requests since its launch in March, with adoption across more than 50 industries and half of China's top 500 enterprises.
The platform's ecosystem includes more than 50,000 developers and partners, alongside more than 200,000 skills designed to automate and support business processes.
Tencent said its upcoming Hy4 model would offer improved performance on complex, long-running tasks, greater reasoning efficiency and visual understanding capabilities.
The company is also developing Hy4 Flash, a lower-cost alternative intended to provide similar visual understanding and AI agent capabilities.
Businesses will be able to access Tencent's models alongside third-party alternatives through Tencent Cloud TokenHub, a platform that allows enterprises to manage model selection, usage, governance and billing through a single interface.
The expansion comes as Tencent strengthens its presence in international markets, particularly in regions where demand for cloud infrastructure and enterprise AI is increasing.
Tencent Cloud currently serves customers in more than 150 countries and regions, with its international AI business recording triple-digit growth over the past year.
The company said nine out of 10 Chinese internet companies expanding internationally use its cloud services.
In the Middle East, Tencent announced new partnerships with Saudi retailer Alsaif Gallery, Hoolive, OmniOps and logistics company TruKKer.
The agreements form part of Tencent's broader efforts to expand its regional business and support companies adopting cloud-based services and AI technologies.
Saudi Arabia also featured in Tencent Cloud's infrastructure expansion during 2026, with Riyadh among the locations where the company increased capacity.
Other locations included Frankfurt, Osaka, Malaysia, Mexico and Thailand.
Tencent Cloud's global infrastructure now spans 25 cloud regions and 70 availability zones, with further expansion planned across Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the Americas over the next year.
The company is also targeting businesses that require greater control over their data and computing environments.
Through Tencent Cloud Enterprise, organizations can deploy cloud capabilities in private, dedicated or hybrid environments, allowing them to retain control over sensitive information and critical workloads.
Beyond the Middle East, Tencent highlighted several international partnerships and projects.
In Indonesia, the company supported telecommunications operator XLSMART in migrating more than 1,000 microservices, while exploring additional cloud and AI cooperation with Telkomsel and Indosat.
In Thailand, retailer CP AXTRA is working with Tencent Cloud to modernize operations across supply chain management, finance and other business functions.
The company also reported continued growth in Hong Kong and Macau, where its customers include Hung Fook Tong and Fusion Bank.
In Europe, payments provider iyzico and e-commerce platform eMAG have migrated workloads to Tencent Cloud, while partnerships in Brazil are supporting the delivery of AI and cloud services to local businesses.
Additional agreements announced at the summit included partnerships with Infosys Solusi Terpadu and Central Retail Digital, with the latter exploring the use of AI agents in retail operations.
Tencent also introduced the founding members of its Cloud Fellow Program, an initiative bringing together technology executives and industry leaders to exchange expertise and discuss practical applications of AI.
The announcements reflect Tencent's efforts to expand beyond its domestic market as competition intensifies among global cloud providers to attract enterprise customers and capitalize on growing demand for AI-powered services.
