Tencent expands UK presence with collaboration in cultural industries
Tencent will tie up with British institutions in cultural creative industries as part of a pact signed in London Wednesday
Chinese tech giant Tencent will work with British institutions in the cultural and creative fields as part of a partnership with the UK amid cooling relations between China and the US.
The Shenzhen-based company signed a memorandum of understanding with the UK Department of International Trade on Wednesday in London. The pact is aimed at deepening ties between the social media-to-gaming giant and Britain, a key Chinese trading partner.
Tencent is making a push into the UK amid growing scrutiny in the US of technology investments by Chinese companies. The US government is reportedly looking at informal partnerships between American and Chinese companies in AI.
China’s State Council has laid out goals to build a domestic AI industry worth nearly US$150 billion in the next few years, with the aim of making the country an “innovation centre” for the technology by 2030.
Tencent was named by the Chinese government to a so-called national team of companies, which also includes Baidu, Alibaba Group and voice intelligence specialist iFlyTek, to spur development of the advanced technologies. Alibaba is the parent company of the South China Morning Post.