China’s Tencent leases 100,000 chips from Oracle to accelerate AI push, FT reports - Reuters

China’s internet and gaming conglomerate Tencent has entered into an agreement to lease 100,000 processor chips from U.S. cloud provider Oracle. The chips, which are part of Oracle’s custom‑designed silicon portfolio, will be made available through the company’s cloud infrastructure services.

The lease is intended to support Tencent’s rapid expansion of artificial‑intelligence capabilities across its suite of products, including its gaming platforms, digital content services and cloud offerings. By accessing a large volume of high‑performance chips, the Chinese firm aims to accelerate the development and deployment of generative‑AI models and other data‑intensive applications.

Oracle’s chip leasing model allows customers to obtain compute capacity without purchasing hardware outright, providing flexibility for firms that need to scale AI workloads quickly. The arrangement reflects Oracle’s broader strategy to monetize its proprietary silicon by offering it to external enterprises seeking advanced AI processing power.

Industry observers note that the deal underscores the intensifying competition among global technology companies to secure AI‑focused hardware resources. Tencent’s move follows similar initiatives by other Chinese firms to partner with foreign cloud providers in order to bridge gaps in domestic chip supply.

The partnership is expected to be operational in the coming months, with the leased chips integrated into Tencent’s cloud environment to power a range of AI‑driven services for both domestic and international users.