Tencent Cloud doubles overseas customer base to fuel global AI expansion

Rapid international growth

Tencent Cloud is significantly accelerating its presence outside of China. The company reported that its active overseas customer base doubled over the past year, a move supported by triple-digit growth in demand for its AI products and services.

This expansion is driven by a growing need for agentic solutions, which are AI systems capable of performing multi-step tasks. Tencent Cloud now serves customers in more than 150 countries and regions, establishing a broad global reach for its cloud infrastructure.

The company is also deepening local partnerships to sustain this momentum. In Southeast Asia, it is working with telecom operators like XLSMART and Telkomsel, while in Europe, it has partnered with payment provider iyzico and e-commerce platform eMAG.

New models and productivity tools

A core part of this growth strategy involves the release of new AI models designed for practical business use. Tencent previewed the upcoming Hy4 model, which is expected to offer improved performance on long-horizon tasks and higher reasoning efficiency.

For the first time, the Hy4 model will include visual understanding, allowing it to process visual information alongside text. The company is also preparing Hy4 Flash, a version designed to be more cost-effective while maintaining the same visual and agentic capabilities.

To make these models accessible, Tencent Cloud uses a platform called TokenHub. This unified platform provides a single API, which allows enterprises to choose between different models based on their specific needs for performance, cost, and governance.

Integrating AI into workflows

Tencent is focusing on making AI useful for everyday office work through its WorkBuddy agent. Since its launch in March, the tool has handled over nine billion task requests across more than 50 different industries.

WorkBuddy is designed to connect with the messaging applications and enterprise systems that teams already use daily. This allows employees to complete tasks within their current tools rather than switching between different software platforms.

The ecosystem for these tools is expanding rapidly. It currently includes over 50,000 developers and partners, along with more than 200,000 skills that help bring AI capabilities into standard business workflows at scale.

Infrastructure and regional reach

To support its growing international user base, Tencent Cloud expanded its physical infrastructure in 2026. New capacity was added in several key locations, including Frankfurt, Osaka, Riyadh, Malaysia, Mexico, and Thailand.

The company's global infrastructure now covers 25 cloud regions and 70 availability zones. Tencent plans to further expand this footprint across Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and the Americas over the next year.

For companies with strict data requirements, Tencent offers Tencent Cloud Enterprise (TCE). This allows businesses to bring full-stack public cloud capabilities into environments they control, helping them manage sensitive data while still using cloud-native AI operations.

Strategic global partnerships

Tencent is securing its market position through diverse partnerships in various industries. In the Middle East, the company announced new deals with Alsaif Gallery, Hoolive, OmniOps, and TruKKer to expand its reach.

In other markets, it is collaborating with Infosys Solusi Terpadu and Central Retail Digital. With Central Retail Digital, the company is specifically exploring how AI agents can improve competitiveness and drive innovation within the retail sector.

The company also launched several tools internationally, including CodeBuddy and the Agent Development Platform (ADP). These tools allow both Chinese and international teams to collaborate on the same AI workbench, facilitating smoother cross-border technical cooperation.

Leadership and community initiatives

Dowson Tong, the CEO of Tencent's Cloud and Smart Industries Group, emphasized that the true value of artificial intelligence lies in its application to daily operations. He noted that while AI creates new opportunities, it is most effective when businesses can adopt it at a large scale to improve everyday workflows.

To facilitate this transition, the company launched the Tencent Cloud Fellow Program. This initiative brings together a founding cohort of industry and technology leaders who share practical experiences and expertise on how to successfully adopt AI technologies in various business settings.

Regional expansion and milestones

Tencent Cloud has achieved consistent growth in several key Asian markets. In Hong Kong and Macau, the company has seen steady business growth for seven consecutive years, serving notable clients such as Fusion Bank and Hung Fook Tong. In Japan and South Korea, the company maintains active work with various entities including Kakao, Com2uS, Gokko, and Pokekara.

The company is also making significant strides in Southeast Asia through large-scale migrations. For example, it assisted the Indonesian telecom operator XLSMART in migrating over 1,000 microservices. Furthermore, it is currently exploring broader cloud and AI collaborations with other major regional players like Telkomsel and Indosat.