Tencent Seizes Momentum in China’s AI Race Against Alibaba

In China’s hyper-competitive AI arena, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. has outpaced Tencent Holdings Ltd. with the sheer speed of rollouts and user growth. But the latter firm is now seizing the initiative as agentic AI fever grips the country.

Tencent in just the past week introduced several signature products aimed at tapping a national enthusiasm for AI agents like OpenClaw — automated services that perform real-world tasks. They underscore an initial advantage for the WeChat operator: it’s grouped China’s entire universe of apps onto a single platform with 1.4 billion users. The company is now working to integrate its own AI agent into WeChat, automating tasks like hailing a ride or booking restaurants, according to a person familiar with the matter. The service could be launched as soon as next month, depending on computing constraints, the person said, asking not to be identified discussing private information.