Why China’s tech giants cannot afford to lose the global AI race

On a crisp January afternoon, the Shenzhen Bay Sports Centre, just a stone’s throw from Tencent Holdings’ headquarters, was packed with employees gathering for a party featuring celebrity cameos and prizes. But before the fun started, they witnessed a round of sober self-reflection from their low-profile leader.

The New Year address by co-founder, chairman and CEO Pony Ma Huateng is an annual tradition for the social media and video gaming giant, offering its 115,000 employees rare insight into what is top of mind for their boss, who seldom accepts media interviews or makes public comments.

Ma, 54, touched on many topics – including gaming, cloud computing and China’s food delivery price wars – but it was his take on Tencent’s artificial intelligence efforts that was striking for most employees, some of whom later shared his comments with the South China Morning Post.

“We were actually slow in taking action [on AI],” Ma told them.

While his description of the company’s “measured pace” aligned with Tencent’s track record of being a steady and stable player among China’s “big tech” firms, the moment of soul-searching stood in contrast to a global AI race that has witnessed exponential growth and a proliferation of applications.

Unlike peers like Alibaba Group Holding, who are vocal about their spending targets for AI, Tencent sticks to quarterly results. It reported that capital expenditure across all sectors in the third quarter of last year was 13 billion yuan (US$1.88 billion).