“Tencent is imminent to issue 6.7 trillion won bonds… for AI investment”

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Seol Won-tae = Tencent Holdings announced that it will soon complete the issuance of bonds worth about $5 billion and use most of the raised funds to purchase semiconductors for running artificial intelligence (AI), Bloomberg News reported on the 12th, citing sources.

Sources reported that Tencent made this announcement during a conference call with investors that day.

At this event, Tencent announced that the bond issuance price could be confirmed as early as the 13th. The issuance volume is reported to be dollar-denominated bonds worth 1.5 to 2 billion dollars and offshore yuan bonds worth 20 to 25 billion yuan (USD 3 to 3.7 billion).

Tencent executives said they would use the funds primarily for AI-related capital expenditures, most of which would be used to purchase semiconductors, the people said.

Instead, Tencent also said that it currently has no plans to issue stocks or convertible bonds.

Tencent is expanding AI-related investments to catch up with competitors such as ByteDance and Alibaba. Capital expenditures in AI projects and computing in the second quarter (April to June) were 52.8 billion yuan, a 176% increase compared to the same period last year.

According to the sources, Tencent's capital spending is likely to remain high for the remainder of this year and into 2027, with annual volume expected to be just over 200 billion yuan based on second quarter levels.