China’s Tencent leases 100,000 chips from Oracle to accelerate AI push, FT reports

Tencent, the Chinese technology giant, has entered into a significant overseas lease agreement with US cloud provider Oracle to access approximately 100,000 advanced AI chips, according to a report by the Financial Times. The Chinese company has committed to a five-year lease across multiple Oracle data centers in Southeast Asia, valued at around $7 billion, with an upfront payment of about 30%, as per the report.

However, Reuters has not been able to independently verify the report, and neither Oracle nor Tencent have responded to Reuters' requests for comment. The agreement underscores the escalating demand for computing resources to fuel Tencent's AI expansion, as the company intensifies investments in developing and deploying large language models.

ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, is reportedly in discussions with Tencent and other parties to sell gaming assets. Chinese firms have been actively seeking AI chips due to tightening US export curbs and China's emphasis on developing home-grown alternatives to US technology providers.