Tencent Cloud CEO proposes enterprise-focused AI strategy

Dowson Tong, CEO of Tencent Cloud and Smart Industries Group, is spearheading a strategic shift to prioritize enterprise AI tools over the development of massive foundational models. This pivot follows criticism from Tencent founder Pony Ma, who reportedly described the company’s AI efforts as “a leaky ship” during a period when the firm struggled to compete with rivals like DeepSeek.

Tong’s strategy emphasizes scenario-driven applications and a multi-model approach on Tencent Cloud, allowing customers to select from various models rather than being restricted to a single in-house option. A key component of this transition is WorkBuddy, an AI assistant that integrates messaging and office tools with AI agents. WorkBuddy has reportedly reached 32 million monthly users, signaling a successful move into the enterprise agent market.

Internal metrics support this direction; Tencent’s coding assistant, CodeBuddy, is currently used by over 12,000 engineers and is responsible for generating more than 50% of new code while reducing coding time by over 40%. This shift is part of a broader effort to close the competitive gap with companies such as Alibaba Group Holding and ByteDance.