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Tencent to invest US$70 billion in new digital infrastructure, backing Beijing’s economic stimulus efforts
- The five-year plan will have Tencent focus on fields that include cloud computing, artificial intelligence, blockchain technology and the Internet of Things
- Other investments will go to infrastructure such as advanced servers, supercomputers, data centres and 5G mobile networks
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Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings plans to invest 500 billion yuan (US$70 billion) over the next five years in new digital infrastructure, a major hi-tech initiative that would bolster Beijing’s efforts to drive economic recovery in the post-coronavirus era.
That massive investment will focus on fields that include cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain technology and Internet of Things, as well as the infrastructure to support them like advanced servers, supercomputers, data centres and 5G mobile networks, according to an announcement on Tencent’s official WeChat account on Tuesday.
Shenzhen-based Tencent’s new digital infrastructure programme followed its move to raise fresh capital for general corporate purposes. The company plans to issue medium-term notes, with a maximum limit of US$20 billion, to certain professional investors, according to its filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange on Monday. It said US$12 billion of these notes were already outstanding.
The company’s infrastructure programme includes development across the country of a new network of large-scale data centres, with a million servers deployed at each site, according to the company’s WeChat post. That would follow the company’s construction of its largest data centre complex on a 51-hectare site, which includes more than 30,000 square metres of tunnelled areas inside a 100-metre-high hill, in southwest Guizhou province.
Citing an interview of senior executive vice-president Tong Taosang with state-owned newspaper Guangming Daily, the Tencent post said the company will also escalate collaborations with “internal scientific research experts and laboratory resources at top universities” to cultivate talent, tackle scientific issues and take part in the formulation of industry standards.
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