By Moz Farooque ACCA
Publication Date: 2025-12-22 17:56:00
This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
Tencent Holdings (TCEHY) appears to have found a workaround to keep its AI ambitions moving, tapping Nvidia’s (NASDAQ:NVDA) Blackwell chips through a cloud setup based in Japan, according to Barron’s.
The plan runs through Tokyo based Datasection, which is deploying Nvidia’s newest Blackwell GPUs in data centers located in Japan and Australia. Tencent is reportedly the end customer, meaning it can access top tier AI computing power without the chips ever being used inside China, where Blackwell remains restricted. For Tencent, whose businesses range from cloud services and gaming to social media and AI, that access matters as workloads grow more compute-hungry.
Nvidia said the structure fits within existing export rules. A spokesperson told Seeking Alpha that approved firms are allowed to operate cloud infrastructure outside restricted countries, adding that overseas cloud demand supports U.S. technology leadership.
Why it matters: this is a reminder that the AI chip battle is increasingly playing out in the cloud, where borders matter less than data center locations. Investors will be watching to see whether regulators tighten the net or let these arrangements continue.
