United States · Business news · AI & Tech · 01 Oct 2026
AI: Chips and hardware · Cloud and data centres · Policy and regulation · Oracle · Nvidia — more AI news
Tencent has reportedly signed a five-year agreement, worth about $7 billion, to lease roughly 100,000 advanced AI chips housed in several Oracle data centres in Southeast Asia, with around 30% paid upfront. It is described as Tencent's largest overseas leasing deal, and the chips are reported to be Nvidia processors. Chinese companies cannot buy the most advanced AI chips directly, but renting computing capacity outside China is permitted under current US rules. Neither company has confirmed the arrangement.
The finance angle: about $7 billion over five years, roughly $2.1 billion of it upfront, would flow to Oracle's cloud business from a single customer, for hardware that Nvidia could not sell into China directly. The cost shows on Tencent's side: its second-quarter capital spending rose 176% to RMB 52.8 billion and free cash flow turned negative at RMB 13.8 billion because of AI-related prepayments. The arrangement depends on US export rules continuing to allow overseas leasing; a change there would reach Oracle's contract and the Southeast Asian data-centre operators that host such capacity. The deal is a press report, not a filing.
Reported by TrendForce — “Tencent Reportedly Signs $7B Deal to Lease 100,000 AI Chips From Oracle in Southeast Asia” ↗ on 01 Oct 2026.
Official series on 01 Oct 2026 or the last day before it, and the latest observation.
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