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China tech giant Tencent's Q2 profit down as AI push builds / Photo: © AFP/File
China tech giant Tencent's Q2 profit down as AI push builds
Chinese tech firm Tencent posted quarterly net profit Wednesday that was short of expectations, as the gaming and advertising giant looks to monetise its heavy investment in artificial intelligence.
Shenzhen-based Tencent is the developer and operator of China's multifunctional app WeChat, and has also emerged in recent years as one of the country's top AI players.
WeChat users and company observers are awaiting the potential release of an AI agent embedded directly in the app, which is used by more than a billion people.
Tencent's net profit during the second quarter of 2026 was 56 billion yuan ($8.3 billion), up 0.7 percent year-on-year, according to a filing posted on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange website.
The figure represented a four-percent fall from the first quarter, also missing a Bloomberg forecast of 58.4 billion yuan.
In a more positive sign for the firm, revenue jumped 11 percent during the period to total 204.8 billion yuan, the filing showed.
That figure was slightly higher than estimated by the Bloomberg forecast.
"We are making substantial progress towards building a new, AI-empowered Tencent in terms of intelligence, applications, and infrastructure," the firm said in the filing.
Tencent, which owns the developer of popular eSports titles including "League of Legends", has sizeable operations in other areas from cloud computing to entertainment.
The firm, along with fellow Chinese tech titans Baidu and Alibaba, has stepped up spending on AI products in recent years.
Founder Pony Ma earlier this year likened Tencent's previous AI efforts to a "leaky" ship, adding: "We still hope the ship can sail faster."
Tencent is also reportedly in discussions to retake stakes in AI startup Manus as the largest shareholder.
Manus said Tuesday it would resume independent operations, months after Beijing blocked Meta's acquisition of the Chinese-developed, Singapore-based firm.
Tencent has also been among the Chinese tech giants racing to take advantage of a surge in interest in the country in OpenClaw -- an AI agent platform created by an Austrian programmer.
Tencent and others are offering simplified installation and affordable coding plans to help users host OpenClaw agents on cloud servers.
L. Andersson--BTZ
