Tencent Leases Large AI Chip Capacity from Oracle in Southeast Asia

Chinese technology giant Tencent has entered into a significant five-year lease agreement with Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, securing access to approximately 100,000 advanced artificial intelligence chips. The transaction, reportedly valued at around $7 billion, is centered on Oracle's data centers located across Southeast Asia.

Tencent intends to utilize the leased computing power to advance the development of its AI models and intelligent agent tools. The details of the agreement were initially reported by the Financial Times, citing sources familiar with the matter. Neither Tencent nor Oracle has publicly commented on the reports.

The reported deal is said to be Oracle's largest overseas leasing agreement to date. Tencent has reportedly made an initial payment of about 30 percent of the total deal value. This move aligns with Tencent's increased focus on AI infrastructure, as evidenced by its capital expenditures, which surged 176% year-over-year to 53 billion yuan (approximately $7.3 billion) in the second quarter, partly for prepayments of computing resources.

The arrangement highlights a broader strategy among Chinese tech companies to secure access to cutting-edge AI hardware, potentially bypassing restrictions that may limit direct procurement from U.S. suppliers. Southeast Asian data centers have become a key region for such large-scale capacity leases, with other major Chinese firms like ByteDance and Alibaba also reportedly utilizing similar resources.