Tencent Cloud Optimises Computing Costs, Expands Local Offerings To Accelerate AI Adoption
From Harizah Hanim Mohamed
SHENZHEN, Oct 29 (Bernama) -- Tencent Cloud International is optimising its hardware and software architecture to provide more cost-effective computing and artificial intelligence (AI) inference amid growing demand for computing and storage, while offering products suited to local markets to accelerate adoption.
Tencent senior executive vice-president and Tencent Cloud and Smart Industries Group chief executive officer Dowson Tong said Southeast Asia has shown interest in deploying cost-effective agentic products as the company rolls out its AI offerings.
Agentic products are software applications and systems that can plan, reason, make decisions and execute multi-step tasks with minimal human supervision.
“Tencent is just starting to offer some of its AI products, such as WorkBuddy, in the region, while continually adding features to support different types of enterprise workloads.
“I think we are at the right moment to take these products that have been polished quite a bit for the domestic market and now take them outside to serve many of the customers in the region,” he said during a group media briefing and interview here yesterday.
The session was held ahead of Tencent’s Global Digital Ecosystem Summit, which begins today.
On making AI more accessible, Tong said Tencent’s strategy includes optimising models and inference software so the same hardware can produce more tokens by fully utilising available resources.
“At the same time, I think we definitely hope that the cost will come down a bit because the cost of the infrastructure in general has increased quite a bit, and I do not believe that is very sustainable,” he said.
Tong noted that demand remains strong, with users seeking to generate as much intelligence or value as possible from these tokens.
More product offerings in Malaysia and local partnerships
Meanwhile, Tong said Tencent is looking to deploy more products beyond WorkBuddy, building on its existing data centre infrastructure and customer base in Malaysia
“We are trying to deploy more products than just WorkBuddy in the Malaysian market. We have built data centres, and some sizeable Malaysian customers are already running on our infrastructure.
“We are helping some of those strategic customers build their models and use our video-streaming capabilities,” he said.
Tong said Tencent also frequently receives enquiries about Token Hub, with customers seeking access to different types of tokens on a platform that can serve the local community while keeping data within Malaysia.
He said Tencent is also open to working with local partners to explore mapping or navigation applications.
He added that deploying such services independently would require substantial investment and effort, while mapping tends to be heavily regulated in many markets.
“We are going to draw on what our partners can offer and assess whether it is feasible to bring our solution to the market.
“We are looking at providing broader services in some of the major markets we are targeting,” he said.
Commenting on AI adoption, Tong said the technology is still relatively new and would need more time to gain wider acceptance as it moves through early adoption and rapid growth before gradually maturing.
“Along the way, there are problems we will need to address to make sure people feel comfortable using it,” he said.
He also expects adoption to widen as the cost of using AI comes down.
Global infrastructure expansion and AI products
Meanwhile, in his address at today’s summit, Tong said Tencent Cloud is continually optimising its hardware and software architecture to deliver more cost-effective computing and AI inference.
“We are also helping customers manage growing data volumes through tiered storage, matching storage costs to how frequently information is accessed,” he added.
Tencent is also upgrading its global acceleration network with AI inference capabilities to deliver lower latency and better performance.
Tong said Tencent has more than two million servers deployed worldwide and has added or expanded capacity in Frankfurt, Osaka, Riyadh, Malaysia, Mexico and Thailand over the past year.
“In the coming year, we will continue to extend our footprint across Asia, West Asia, Europe and the Americas,” he said.
On its global AI offerings, Tong said WorkBuddy supports more than 50 languages, connects with popular platforms and enterprise systems, and allows businesses to choose different AI models for different tasks.
He also outlined the company’s broader range of AI tools, including CodeBuddy and Agent Runtime.
Elaborating on Token Hub, he said the platform lets enterprises access different AI models through a single interface with unified billing, helping them select suitable models for specific tasks while managing performance, costs, and usage.
Tong said Tencent Cloud’s active overseas customer base doubled over the past year, with the company serving customers in more than 150 countries and regions.
He said the company’s international AI business also recorded triple-digit growth, driven by strong demand for agentic solutions.
-- BERNAMA