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Tencent Unveils AI Platform, Eyes Middle East Expansion at Global Digital System Summit  

Tencent’s logo is displayed at its pavilion at the China International Fair for Trade in Services in Beijing, China. (Reuters)
Tencent’s logo is displayed at its pavilion at the China International Fair for Trade in Services in Beijing, China. (Reuters)
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Tencent Unveils AI Platform, Eyes Middle East Expansion at Global Digital System Summit  

Tencent’s logo is displayed at its pavilion at the China International Fair for Trade in Services in Beijing, China. (Reuters)
Tencent’s logo is displayed at its pavilion at the China International Fair for Trade in Services in Beijing, China. (Reuters)

Chinese technology giant Tencent has announced the global rollout of new scenario-driven artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, aiming to help enterprises improve industrial efficiency and accelerate international expansion.

The announcement came Tuesday at the Global Digital System Summit 2025, held on September 16 and 17 at the Shenzhen World Exhibition and Convention Center.

During his keynote, Dowson Tong, Senior Executive Vice President of Tencent and CEO of its Cloud and Smart Industries Group, said: “Practical applications of AI drive business efficiency, while international expansion unlocks new growth opportunities. The solutions we launch today will empower enterprises on their journey toward intelligence and globalization, ensuring sustainable and scalable growth.”

At the summit, Tencent Cloud unveiled its Agent Development Platform 3.0, enabling companies to create autonomous AI agents and integrate them into operations such as customer service, marketing, inventory management, and research. The company also introduced its Agent Runtime infrastructure, designed to provide a robust environment for developing and deploying these agents.

Tencent expanded its SaaS+AI suite, adding advanced office collaboration tools. These include AI Minutes within Tencent Meetings, which recorded 150% year-on-year growth, and Learn Share, now used by more than 300,000 clients with a 92% accuracy rate. Another highlight was Code Buddy, an AI programming tool that cuts coding time by 40% and boosts R&D efficiency by 16%.

The company also launched new models in its Hunyuan 3D series, offering advanced 3D content generation for media and gaming. With more than 2.6 million downloads on Hugging Face, Hunyuan has become the most widely adopted open-source 3D model series.

Over the past year, the Hunyuan ecosystem has expanded with more than 30 models, including translation tools covering 30+ languages, as well as image, video, and 3D content generation tools.

Expanding global footprint

Tencent Cloud reported that its international customer base has doubled in the past year, with double-digit growth across Asia over the last three years in markets such as Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, and Japan. More than 90% of China’s leading internet companies and 95% of its top gaming firms now rely on Tencent Cloud to power their overseas growth.

Day one of the summit featured discussions with global partners including UAE-based e&, Indonesia’s Dana, GoTo Group, and MUFG Bank (China). Executives highlighted the importance of adopting AI and cloud solutions to drive global competitiveness.

Tencent also announced a series of new partnerships across Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, Europe, and North America. Notably, it revealed plans to invest $150 million in its first Middle East data center in Saudi Arabia, while building a third data center in Osaka, Japan, alongside a new regional office.

Alongside its technology push, Tencent plans to raise about $1 billion by issuing offshore yuan-denominated “dim sum” bonds in three tranches (5, 10, and 30 years). Initial price guidance stands at 2.6%, 3.0%, and 3.6% respectively, targeting non-US investors.

The company continues to spend heavily on AI, though at a moderated pace. After capital expenditures of 36.6 billion yuan ($5.14 billion) in Q4 2024 and 27.5 billion yuan in Q1 2025, spending fell to 19.1 billion yuan in Q2. Tencent has told analysts it will adopt a more cautious approach to ensure long-term profitability from its AI initiatives.

Rival Alibaba recently raised $3.2 billion through zero-coupon convertible bonds to fund international growth and cloud expansion. Around 80% of those proceeds will be directed toward new data centers, technology upgrades, and improved cloud services.

Today, Tencent operates 55 data centers across 21 markets, supported by nine international technical hubs in Asia, Europe, and the Americas.

The company has also released international versions of key products, including Code Buddy and Cloud Mall, while its EdgeOne security and acceleration platform has gained more than 100,000 global users within three months of its latest update, reducing website deployment times from a full day to just one minute.

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Business

IMF and Arab Monetary Fund Sign MoU to Enhance Cooperation

The MoU was signed by IMF Managing Director Dr. Kristalina Georgieva and AMF Director General Dr. Fahad Alturki - SPA
The MoU was signed by IMF Managing Director Dr. Kristalina Georgieva and AMF Director General Dr. Fahad Alturki - SPA
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IMF and Arab Monetary Fund Sign MoU to Enhance Cooperation

The MoU was signed by IMF Managing Director Dr. Kristalina Georgieva and AMF Director General Dr. Fahad Alturki - SPA
The MoU was signed by IMF Managing Director Dr. Kristalina Georgieva and AMF Director General Dr. Fahad Alturki - SPA

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the sidelines of the AlUla Conference on Emerging Market Economies (EME) to enhance cooperation between the two institutions.

The MoU was signed by IMF Managing Director Dr. Kristalina Georgieva and AMF Director General Dr. Fahad Alturki, SPA reported.

The agreement aims to strengthen coordination in economic and financial policy areas, including surveillance and lending activities, data and analytical exchange, capacity building, and the provision of technical assistance, in support of regional financial and economic stability.

Both sides affirmed that the MoU represents an important step toward deepening their strategic partnership and strengthening the regional financial safety net, serving member countries and enhancing their ability to address economic challenges.

Business

Saudi Chambers Federation Announces First Saudi-Kuwaiti Business Council

File photo of the Saudi flag/AAWSAT
File photo of the Saudi flag/AAWSAT
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Saudi Chambers Federation Announces First Saudi-Kuwaiti Business Council

File photo of the Saudi flag/AAWSAT
File photo of the Saudi flag/AAWSAT

The Federation of Saudi Chambers announced the formation of the first joint Saudi-Kuwaiti Business Council for its inaugural term (1447–1451 AH) and the election of Salman bin Hassan Al-Oqayel as its chairman.

Al-Oqayel said the council’s formation marks a pivotal milestone in economic relations between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, reflecting a practical approach to enabling the business sectors in both countries to capitalize on promising investment opportunities and strengthen bilateral trade and investment partnerships, SPA reported.

He noted that trade between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait reached approximately SAR9.5 billion by the end of November 2025, including SAR8 billion in Saudi exports and SAR1.5 billion in Kuwaiti imports.

Business

Leading Harvard Trade Economist Says Saudi Arabia Holds Key to Success in Fragmented Global Economy

Professor Pol Antràs speaks during a panel discussion at the AlUla Conference for Emerging Market Economies (Asharq Al-Awsat).
Professor Pol Antràs speaks during a panel discussion at the AlUla Conference for Emerging Market Economies (Asharq Al-Awsat).
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Leading Harvard Trade Economist Says Saudi Arabia Holds Key to Success in Fragmented Global Economy

Professor Pol Antràs speaks during a panel discussion at the AlUla Conference for Emerging Market Economies (Asharq Al-Awsat).
Professor Pol Antràs speaks during a panel discussion at the AlUla Conference for Emerging Market Economies (Asharq Al-Awsat).

Harvard University economics professor Pol Antràs said Saudi Arabia represents an exceptional model in the shifting global trade landscape, differing fundamentally from traditional emerging-market frameworks. He also stressed that globalization has not ended but has instead re-formed into what he describes as fragmented integration.

Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat on the sidelines of the AlUla Conference for Emerging Market Economies, Antràs said Saudi Arabia’s Vision-driven structural reforms position the Kingdom to benefit from the ongoing phase of fragmented integration, adding that the country’s strategic focus on logistics transformation and artificial intelligence constitutes a key engine for sustainable growth that extends beyond the volatility of global crises.

Antràs, the Robert G. Ory Professor of Economics at Harvard University, is one of the leading contemporary theorists of international trade. His research, which reshaped understanding of global value chains, focuses on how firms organize cross-border production and how regulation and technological change influence global trade flows and corporate decision-making.

He said conventional classifications of economies often obscure important structural differences, noting that the term emerging markets groups together countries with widely divergent industrial bases. Economies that depend heavily on manufacturing exports rely critically on market access and trade integration and therefore face stronger competitive pressures from Chinese exports that are increasingly shifting toward alternative markets.

Saudi Arabia, by contrast, exports extensively while facing limited direct competition from China in its primary export commodity, a situation that creates a strategic opportunity. The current environment allows the Kingdom to obtain imports from China at lower cost and access a broader range of goods that previously flowed largely toward the United States market.

Addressing how emerging economies should respond to dumping pressures and rising competition, Antràs said countries should minimize protectionist tendencies and instead position themselves as committed participants in the multilateral trading system, allowing foreign producers to access domestic markets while encouraging domestic firms to expand internationally.

He noted that although Chinese dumping presents concerns for countries with manufacturing sectors that compete directly with Chinese production, the risk is lower for Saudi Arabia because it does not maintain a large manufacturing base that overlaps directly with Chinese exports. Lower-cost imports could benefit Saudi consumers, while targeted policy tools such as credit programs, subsidies, and support for firms seeking to redesign and upgrade business models represent more effective responses than broad protectionist measures.

Globalization has not ended

Antràs said globalization continues but through more complex structures, with trade agreements increasingly negotiated through diverse arrangements rather than relying primarily on multilateral negotiations. Trade deals will continue to be concluded, but they are likely to become more complex, with uncertainty remaining a defining feature of the global trading environment.

Interest rates and artificial intelligence

According to Antràs, high global interest rates, combined with the additional risk premiums faced by emerging markets, are constraining investment, particularly in sectors that require export financing, capital expenditure, and continuous quality upgrading.

However, he noted that elevated interest rates partly reflect expectations of stronger long-term growth driven by artificial intelligence and broader technological transformation.

He also said if those growth expectations materialize, productivity gains could enable small and medium-sized enterprises to forecast demand more accurately and identify previously untapped markets, partially offsetting the negative effects of higher borrowing costs.

Employment concerns and the role of government

The Harvard professor warned that labor markets face a dual challenge stemming from intensified Chinese export competition and accelerating job automation driven by artificial intelligence, developments that could lead to significant disruptions, particularly among younger workers. He said governments must adopt proactive strategies requiring substantial fiscal resources to mitigate near-term labor-market shocks.

According to Antràs, productivity growth remains the central condition for success: if new technologies deliver the anticipated productivity gains, governments will gain the fiscal space needed to compensate affected groups and retrain the workforce, achieving a balance between addressing short-term disruptions and investing in long-term strategic gains.