A drone photo taken on Aug. 29, 2024 shows a Tencent data center in Gui'an New Area, southwest China's Guizhou Province. [Photo/Xinhua]

GUANGZHOU -- Chinese internet giant Tencent has vowed to ramp up all-round AI investments and further expand its overseas commitments, a company announcement revealed on Friday at the Tencent Global Digital Ecosystem Summit held in the city of Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province.

In the first quarter of 2025, Tencent's R&D investment surged by 21 percent year on year to 18.9 billion yuan (about 2.63 billion U.S. dollars), as the company upgraded its comprehensive AI ecosystem, spanning foundational large models, computing power, development tools and applications, said Tong Taosang, senior executive vice president of Tencent.

In terms of computing power, Tencent has established data centers in Guangzhou, Qingyuan, Shaoguan and other locations across the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, providing foundational computing support for industrial upgrading.

Tencent Vice President Li Qiang said that as a globally expanding cloud computing provider, Tencent Cloud had maintained double-digit growth in terms of its international business over the past three years -- serving over 10,000 overseas customers across more than 80 countries and regions.

This year, Tencent will further expand its overseas investments. It plans to invest 150 million U.S. dollars in the Middle East to establish its first data center in Saudi Arabia, and invest 500 million U.S. dollars in Indonesia to build its third data center in that country.

Tencent's revenue for 2024 increased 8 percent year on year to reach 660.3 billion yuan -- with its gross profit and operating profit rising 19 percent and 24 percent, respectively.

AI technology played a crucial role in driving Tencent's business innovation and fueling its high-quality growth throughout the year, according to the company's financial results released in March.