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Iris Deng

Shares of Tencent Holdings surged 10 per cent on Tuesday, driven by investor optimism over reports that the Chinese tech giant is close to launching an artificial intelligence agent within its super app WeChat.
Tencent was testing a prototype AI agent for the WeChat ecosystem, which boasts 1.4 billion active users, and planned to start the compliance process as soon as this month for a public launch, according to a report by the Financial Times on Tuesday, citing anonymous sources.
The company would test the agent on a small group of external users after the compliance procedure, and a public launch date was not yet confirmed, the report said. Tencent declined to comment on the report.
The expected launch gave a much-needed lift to Tencent’s stock, which has shed over 20 per cent of its value since the start of 2026. The stock rose 10.5 per cent to HK$481.60 on Tuesday.
The Shenzhen-based company has been under scrutiny over its AI efforts relative to domestic peers, including Alibaba Group Holding and ByteDance. Last month, Tencent co-founder and CEO Pony Ma Huateng offered a candid assessment of the firm’s AI progress: “A year ago we thought we were on the boat, then we found it was leaking.”
The company has been reshuffling its organisation to sharpen its AI focus. In April, it launched Hy3 preview, its first flagship model since former OpenAI researcher Yao Shunyu joined the Shenzhen-based tech giant to lead its foundational AI development efforts.
However, all eyes are on the promise of an AI agent within WeChat, which would potentially leverage the app’s vast functionality, including mini-programs, payments, content and commerce.
Tencent has repeatedly emphasised the need for caution in adding an agent to the super app.
“This will be coming, but we need to figure out what’s the best way of presenting these and how to allow mini-program owners to actively engage with this,” said Tencent president Martin Lau Chi-ping on a call with analysts last month.
The AI buzz also lifted the shares of major Chinese tech firms on Tuesday. Food delivery giant Meituan’s shares jumped 9.27 per cent to HK$85.50 on Tuesday. Meituan owns 3.86 per cent of Zhipu AI, the fast-growing Chinese AI firm listed in Hong Kong, whose shares have soared more than tenfold since its debut in January.
Alibaba, which owns the South China Morning Post, saw its share price surge 6.6 per cent on Tuesday to HK$130.90.


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An AI agent would leverage the app’s ecosystem of mini-programs, payments, content and commerce for 1.4 billion users


An AI agent would leverage the app’s ecosystem of mini-programs, payments, content and commerce for 1.4 billion users.


Tencent shares jump 10% on expectations of AI agent within WeChat super app

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}An AI agent would leverage the app’s ecosystem of mini-programs, payments, content and commerce for 1.4 billion users

An AI agent would leverage the app’s ecosystem of mini-programs, payments, content and commerce for 1.4 billion users