Tencent leases 100,000 chips from Oracle for $7 billion

Tencent agreed to a five-year lease deal worth $7 billion with Oracle to access about 100,000 advanced artificial intelligence chips, the Financial Times reported on Thursday, October 1, 2026. The contract covers multiple Oracle data centers located in southeast Asia.

The transaction represents the largest overseas lease agreement in Tencent's history. It gives the internet and videogame company access to advanced hardware that was not available in China, including Nvidia chips that Chinese tech companies cannot purchase directly under United States trade rules but may lease abroad.

Under the terms of the agreement, Tencent made an upfront payment of about 30%, which weighed on its free cash flow in the second quarter. The heavy spending over the past year has supported Tencent's efforts to develop its Hunyuan models and narrow the gap with domestic rivals such as DeepSeek and Alibaba Group Holding, while putting pressure on company margins and profitability.