{"id":16050,"date":"2026-02-21T09:53:33","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T09:53:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/why-chinas-tech-giants-cannot-afford-to-lose-the-global-ai-race\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T09:53:33","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T09:53:33","slug":"why-chinas-tech-giants-cannot-afford-to-lose-the-global-ai-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/why-chinas-tech-giants-cannot-afford-to-lose-the-global-ai-race\/","title":{"rendered":"Why China\u2019s tech giants cannot afford to lose the  global AI race"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.i-scmp.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/og_image_scmp_generic\/public\/d8\/images\/canvas\/2026\/02\/20\/33fbc075-bfcb-463e-86f4-05b3551850ce_b9ddf2c0.jpg?itok=iv4rz4nI&amp;v=1771571673\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"><\/div>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">On a crisp January afternoon, the Shenzhen Bay Sports Centre, just a stone&rsquo;s throw from Tencent Holdings&rsquo; 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.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">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.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Ma, 54, touched on many topics &ndash; including gaming, cloud computing and China&rsquo;s food delivery price wars &ndash; but it was his take on Tencent&rsquo;s artificial intelligence efforts that was striking for most employees, some of whom later shared his comments with the South China Morning Post.<\/p>\n<div data-qa=\"InlineAdSlot-Container\" class=\"css-zl1inp e11v3ui14\">\n<div class=\"e11v3ui10 e11v3ui13 css-1evd7i0 e1flwkbl0\" data-qa=\"AdSlot-Container\">\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">&ldquo;We were actually slow in taking action [on AI],&rdquo; Ma told them.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">While his description of the company&rsquo;s &ldquo;measured pace&rdquo; aligned with Tencent&rsquo;s track record of being a steady and stable player among China&rsquo;s &ldquo;big tech&rdquo; firms, the moment of soul-searching stood in contrast to a global AI race that has witnessed exponential growth and a proliferation of applications.<\/p>\n<div data-qa=\"InlineAdSlot-Container\" class=\"css-zl1inp e11v3ui14\">\n<div class=\"e11v3ui10 e11v3ui13 css-117a6hs e1flwkbl0\" data-qa=\"AdSlot-Container\">\n<div class=\"internal-linking-related-contents\"><a href=\"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/12-weeks-jail-for-school-it-support-technician-who-took-upskirt-videos-of-teachers\/\" class=\"template-1\"><span class=\"cta\">News :<\/span><span class=\"postTitle\">&lt;div&gt;12 weeks' jail for school IT support technician who took upskirt videos of teachers&lt;\/div&gt;<\/span><\/a><\/div><p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">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).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><sub>Why China&rsquo;s tech giants cannot afford to lose the  global AI race<\/sub><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On a crisp January afternoon, the Shenzhen Bay Sports Centre, just a stone&rsquo;s throw from Tencent Holdings&rsquo; 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&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"more-link-wrap\"><a href=\"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/why-chinas-tech-giants-cannot-afford-to-lose-the-global-ai-race\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;Why China\u2019s tech giants cannot afford to lose the  global AI race&rdquo;<\/span> &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16051,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16050\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}