Tencent, the king of stocks, finally takes action.
After much anticipation, WeChat has finally made a move in the field of AI.
On June 2nd, the Financial Times of the UK reported, citing informed sources, that Tencent is developing an embedded AI agent for WeChat. It has now entered the prototype testing phase, and the compliance review could start as early as this month.
By then, users can swipe right on the WeChat home screen to open a chat window and directly use natural language commands to call on mini - programs to complete various tasks, such as hailing a taxi, ordering takeout, booking tickets, and making payments. All these can be completed within the WeChat ecosystem.
The capital market reacted immediately. Tencent's stock price soared by more than 10.46% on that day, setting a record for the largest single - day increase since November 2022, and its market value increased by approximately HK$410 billion.
Alibaba, Meituan, JD.com, BYD and other companies all made efforts, with most of their stock prices rising by more than 6%, driving the Hang Seng Tech Index up by 4.72%.
The mastermind behind this is Zhang Xiaolong.
Every iteration of WeChat in the past, from the Moments feature to official accounts, from payment to mini - programs, has reshaped the Internet landscape and directly boosted Tencent's performance.
This time, WeChat is betting on something: the super entrance in the AI era.
People have been waiting for this day for a long time.
1、
Since ChatGPT triggered the AI wave in 2023, almost all major tech companies have joined the competition in computing power and AI. Naturally, Tencent can't stay out of it.
However, for a long time, Tencent seemed unhurried. Yuanbao, launched last year, despite a large investment in promotion, still couldn't compete with Doubao and was even surpassed by Tongyi Qianwen of Alibaba.
Even Ma Huateng admitted that Tencent's Hunyuan large - model is not very good.
In terms of the most crucial AI capital expenditure, Tencent significantly lags behind ByteDance and Alibaba. Last year, Tencent spent HK$80 billion, while ByteDance and Alibaba spent HK$150 - 160 billion.
The outside world began to wonder if Tencent couldn't even get a ticket to the AI era. Investors voted with their feet, and the stock price was under pressure all the way. In the first quarter of 2026, Tencent's market value evaporated by nearly HK$1.5 trillion, dropping by more than 26% from the high point in January.
At the shareholders' meeting on May 13th, Ma Huateng's metaphor of "changing the leaking boat" accurately explained the trend of Tencent's stock price.
Now, WeChat is finally going to take major action.
With 1.4 billion users, WeChat has been the largest traffic entrance in the past decade. How could Tencent sit back and watch it being taken away by others?
What Zhang Xiaolong wants is not an AI - native application but an AI agent. This is not just a difference in product form but a fundamental divergence in the underlying logic - one is "answering questions" and the other is "completing tasks".
WeChat mini - programs currently host millions of third - party services, covering almost all aspects of daily life such as takeout, taxi - hailing, ticket - booking, payment, medical services, and government affairs. The total annual transaction volume has reached hundreds of billions of US dollars.
While other companies' AI needs to "understand" the screen, simulate clicks, and bypass anti - scraping mechanisms to barely call external services, WeChat AI can directly call native interfaces. This is not just a technological gap but a structural barrier.
More importantly, from the very beginning, WeChat's approach to developing an AI agent is fundamentally different from its competitors like ByteDance's Doubao and Alibaba's Tongyi Qianwen.
The Doubao AI phone tried to reach the system level and directly bypass apps to call services, but the next day, it was "physically blocked" by WeChat and Taobao. Developers were also unhappy because if the AI bypassed their interfaces, their advertising fees, commissions, and traffic would all disappear.
WeChat chooses to develop AI within its own ecosystem - empowering mini - programs and testing AI commercialization.
However, to implement this function without annoying users and harming mini - program merchants, Zhang Xiaolong has to consider more.
2、
Looking back at Tencent's AI journey, it seems to have been in a state of exploration.
At the beginning of 2025, DeepSeek became extremely popular. Tencent took the lead, and the Yuanbao App became the first major application to connect to DeepSeek. It once topped the free app list on the Chinese App Store, leaving DeepSeek behind.
However, the "top - ranked" status didn't last long. By Q4 of 2025, the monthly active users of ByteDance's Doubao had reached 226 million, while Yuanbao had only about 40 million, a gap of more than five times.
By March 2026, Doubao's monthly active users soared to 345 million, Alibaba's Tongyi Qianwen climbed to 166 million, and DeepSeek also exceeded 100 million. Although Yuanbao's monthly active users increased to 57.35 million, its ranking dropped to fourth.
After the excitement, the tide receded, and Ma Huateng found that the boat was leaking. The path of independent AI applications seems to be a dead end.
Meanwhile, Tencent's senior management realized that the backwardness of its large - model was increasingly hindering its AI strategy. They must catch up in this regard.
At the end of 2025, Tencent recruited 27 - year - old former OpenAI researcher Yao Shunyu and appointed him as the chief AI scientist.
When the news came out, the industry was shocked. Yao Shunyu's resume is a standard example of a genius: he was the third - highest scorer in the college entrance examination in Anhui, graduated from Tsinghua University's Yao Class, obtained a doctorate from Princeton University, and worked at OpenAI, participating in the development of core projects such as operator and deep research.
Tencent offered him almost the "top - level" conditions: he was appointed as the chief AI scientist in the "CEO/President's Office" and reported directly to President Liu Chiping.
After Yao Shunyu joined, he started to recruit high - level talents from ByteDance and DeepSeek and formed a powerful large - model R & D team.
On April 23rd, Yao Shunyu presented his first result - Tencent's Hunyuan Hy3 preview language model. The market gave a positive response. On May 7th, Hy3 preview topped the OpenRouter general list with 36.6 trillion Tokens.
In the past few months, Tencent also didn't miss the popular lobster - related AI trend and launched three main Agent products, namely QClaw, WorkBuddy, and OpenClaw, as well as the operating - system - level AI assistant Marvis.
Among them, WorkBuddy performed well and became the main force of Tencent's B - side AI.
Now, Tencent is going to embed AI in WeChat and focus on the C - side. The independent development path of Yuanbao has basically been marginalized.
Considering the coordination mechanism of Tencent's CEO Office and Yao Shunyu's in - depth leadership of the Agent route, the WeChat AI assistant will probably be based on the Hunyuan model and flexibly call other solutions.
As for when it will be launched, it depends on when the large - model is ready.
In this sense, Yao Shunyu's "second half of the AI game" and Zhang Xiaolong's "view of AI agents" converge in the WeChat AI assistant.
Zhang Xiaolong's move is so eye - catching not only because WeChat has 1.4 billion users but also because there is a natural coupling relationship between WeChat's underlying capabilities and the rebuilt Hunyuan model by Yao Shunyu - the MCP is ready, just waiting to be implemented.
3、
Tencent's AI story has come full circle and finally returned to where it is most expected: WeChat.
This also marks that WeChat has officially joined the war for the AI super entrance.
ByteDance and Alibaba have taken the lead in AI applications. The market once thought that Tencent was "completely left behind" in the AI era. Lin Weisen, the managing director of Ruilian Bank, even said bluntly, "Investors have completely locked in the beneficiaries of AI, and Tencent is not considered one of them."
Tencent is well aware of the gravity of this judgment. In the first quarter of 2026, its capital expenditure increased by 16.2% year - on - year to 31.94 billion yuan, almost all of which was invested in AI computing power and model iteration. The R & D investment was 22.54 billion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 19%, mainly for employee welfare expenses in the competition for AI talents.
Throughout 2025, Tencent invested up to 18 billion yuan in the Hunyuan and Yuanbao products, and it is expected to at least double the investment in 2026.
This is a strategic bet of "burning money for time". The emergence of the WeChat AI assistant means that this high - stakes gamble is showing some positive feedback.
If it passes the compliance review smoothly, the WeChat AI agent is expected to start a gray - scale test in July 2026. This will be the first milestone for a WeChat Agent product with a clear time frame.
JPMorgan Chase predicts that the AI Agent will empower WeChat to upgrade from a social/payment tool to an AI - driven service execution center. By 2030, the relevant e - commerce commission income could reach 69.9 billion yuan.
Bloomberg analysts expect that once the WeChat AI assistant passes regulatory approval and is widely adopted, it is expected to increase the annual income by 5 - 10 billion US dollars within three years.
Ma Huateng asked shareholders to "be patient with Tencent".
Now, at the midsummer of 2026, Zhang Xiaolong has finally made his move. The person who said in the spring of 2017 that "good software should let users leave after use" is leading a super - ecosystem of 1.4 billion users to a bigger game table.
4、
In the capital market, Tencent's sharp rise this time seems to be a signal of an expected reversal.
Since reaching a stage high of HK$677.7 in October last year, Tencent's stock price has been oscillating downward for eight months, with a maximum drawdown of nearly 38%. From February to May this year, the stock price fell for four consecutive months, and the single - month decline in February reached 14.65%.
In these eight months, Tencent's valuation has rapidly shrunk from the high point. As of May 28th, Tencent's rolling price - to - earnings ratio remained in the range of 14.6 - 15 times, 40% lower than the median of 25.77 times in the past ten years.
The news that WeChat is going to launch an AI assistant made Tencent's stock price soar by 10% in one day. This is the first time in four years and a significant rebound after eight months of slump.
As the king of the Internet in the past decade and the cornerstone of Hong Kong's technology stocks, Tencent is naturally expected to make a transformation in AI.
As a heavy - weight stock in the Hang Seng Tech Index, Tencent's stock price is highly correlated with the rise and fall of the index. As of the end of May this year, Tencent's weight in the Hang Seng Tech Index was about 6.9%. Together with Alibaba's 7.9%, these two companies accounted for nearly 15%.
However, in the past eight months, the market has preferred the hardware side and native AI applications rather than traditional Internet companies. Tencent and Alibaba's weight advantage has instead become a drag.
Now that WeChat is going to develop AI and the stock price has soared, the market's expectations are self - evident. It hopes that Tencent can seize the opportunity in the AI era again and continue to be the leader.
The flow of funds still reflects market divergence. On the day of the sharp rise, Tencent was one of the stocks with the largest net selling by south - bound funds, with a net selling of HK$1.57 billion.
However, more funds are flowing in. From the last week of May to early June, south - bound funds had net purchases of more than HK$6 billion for several consecutive days, mainly in technology stocks. After Futu and Tiger were fined, more than HK$200 billion of cross - border funds need to be relocated, and the Hong Kong Stock Connect is one of the main destinations.
Tencent is the top - weighted stock in the Hong Kong Stock Connect, and this passively allocated capital will continue to flow in.
Next, Tencent's future depends on the progress of WeChat's AI. If the gray - scale test of the WeChat AI agent starts and has a good result, then the story of Tencent's AI revaluation will make sense.
Thirteen years ago, the WeChat "ticket" took Tencent onto the deck of the mobile Internet. Today, the WeChat AI assistant may be another "ticket" - this time, the destination is the next decade of the AI era.
The outcome is uncertain. Fortunately, Tencent and Zhang Xiaolong have finally taken action.
This article is from the WeChat official account "Future Land". Author: Zhai Zong. Republished by 36Kr with permission.