Tencent considers $5 billion offshore bond sale to fund AI development

Tencent Holdings, the Chinese technology giant, is considering raising up to $5 billion through an offshore bond sale, according to a Bloomberg News report on Thursday. The bonds could be issued in US dollars and offshore yuan, with a sale potentially happening as early as this month. This follows Tencent's $4.66 billion bond offering in June, its largest since 2020, used for general corporate purposes including AI development. The move comes as global tech companies increasingly tap debt markets to finance AI investments, despite concerns about the sector's stability. Tencent has been ramping up AI spending to compete with rivals like ByteDance and Alibaba.