Tencent Cloud president Qiu Yuepeng said the company had “fully adapted to mainstream domestic chips” within its AI computing infrastructure
In sum – what to know:
Tencent backs domestic AI chips – The company has fully integrated Chinese processors into its AI infrastructure, aligning with Beijing’s push for tech self-sufficiency amid U.S. restrictions.
Partnerships and investments expand – Tencent is cooperating with local chipmakers and pursuing long-term hardware-software collaboration to build cost-effective AI computing power.
Regulatory backdrop intensifies – The move coincides with China’s antitrust probe into Nvidia, highlighting growing regulatory and geopolitical pressures shaping the AI semiconductor landscape.
Tencent Holdings has become the latest Chinese technology company to adopt locally designed artificial intelligence (AI) chips, as Beijing seeks to reduce reliance on foreign semiconductors such as those from Nvidia, according to a report by the South China Morning Post.
At its annual Global Digital Ecosystem Summit, Tencent Cloud President Qiu Yuepeng said the company had “fully adapted to mainstream domestic chips” within its AI computing infrastructure and continues to participate in the open-source community. The move underscores China’s broader strategy to strengthen its domestic semiconductor ecosystem in response to U.S. export restrictions and rising geopolitical tensions.
Tencent senior executive vice-president Dowson Tong Tao-sang, noted that the firm is working with multiple domestic chip companies to deploy “the most suitable hardware” across different AI scenarios. He added that Tencent is also making long-term investments to align hardware and software and develop cost-effective computing solutions.
Also, during the company’s most recent earnings call, president Martin Lau Chi-ping said Tencent has secured sufficient processors for AI training and “many options for inference chips,” while advancing software improvements to optimize workloads on existing hardware.
Tencent’s announcement comes shortly after China’s State Administration for Market Regulation said U.S. AI chip firm Nvidia had violated antitrust rules linked to its $6.9 billion acquisition of Mellanox Technologies in 2019, with investigations ongoing.
According to Omdia, Tencent Cloud ranked as the fourth-largest AI cloud services provider in China in the first half of 2025, with a 7% market share, trailing Alibaba, ByteDance, and Huawei, the report added.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang recently said there is a “real possibility” that the company’s advanced Blackwell processors could be sold in the Chinese market, as he pressed U.S. officials to allow American chipmakers more access to the market. Speaking on Nvidia’s latest earnings call, Huang noted that China’s AI market could expand by 50% next year, estimating a $50 billion opportunity in 2025. “The opportunity for us to bring Blackwell to the China market is a real possibility,” Huang said.
Huang’s remarks follow his visits to the White House in July and August to seek export licenses for Nvidia’s H20 chip, currently restricted by U.S. rules. In August, the Trump administration struck a deal allowing Nvidia to sell H20s in China, provided 15% of revenue goes to the U.S. government.
Huang argued Chinese developers should use Nvidia’s chips rather than be forced to rely on local alternatives, which could accelerate China’s domestic semiconductor push. “The China market I’ve estimated to be about $50 billion of opportunity for us this year, if we were able to address it with competitive products,” Huang said. “And if it’s $50 billion this year, you would expect it to grow, say, 50% per year.”
Recent reports stated that Nvidia was reportedly preparing a new AI chip for the Chinese market that will outperform its H20 model. Tentatively named B30A, the chip will feature a single-die design, meaning all major components will be integrated onto one piece of silicon. It is expected to provide about half the computing power of Nvidia’s dual-die Blackwell Ultra GPUs, according to Reuters.
The development follows reports that Chinese authorities have discouraged Chinese companies from deploying the H20 chip, particularly in government and security-related projects. Chinese authorities also reportedly instructed large firms such as Alibaba, ByteDance and Tencent to pause H20 purchases while a national security review is underway.
China is requiring its data centers to adopt more domestically produced chips, underscoring Beijing’s intention to reduce dependence on foreign semiconductors, according to a report by the South China Morning Post.
