Tencent’s Yuanbao AI chatbot overtakes DeepSeek as China’s top iPhone app

BEIJING: Tencent Holdings Limited’s Yuanbao AI chatbot has overtaken DeepSeek to become the most downloaded iPhone app in China this week, reflecting the growing competition in the domestic market, reported Bloomberg.

Tencent’s application incorporates its proprietary Hunyuan artificial intelligence technology alongside DeepSeek’s R1 reasoning model, gaining traction in an era of heightened interest and rivalry within the AI sector in the country.

Currently, three of the five most downloaded free apps in China are AI chatbots, with ByteDance Limited’s Doubao entering the ranks alongside Tencent and DeepSeek.

A month after its impressive launch, DeepSeek’s chatbot has energized China’s tech and internet landscape, driving investments and new product developments.

 In response to DeepSeek’s success, Alibaba Group Holding Limited has positioned itself in direct competition and announced a substantial $53 billion investment in AI.

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Meanwhile, Tencent has integrated DeepSeek R1 into various offerings, including enhancing WeChat’s search functionality and introducing a virtual companion in its long-standing game, Peacekeeper Elite. Last week, Tencent unveiled a Hunyuan Turbo version, claiming it is more efficient than DeepSeek in providing responses.

Based in Shenzhen, Tencent is the largest games distributor globally, and its WeChat platform boasts over 1.4 billion users, which may have contributed to its newfound dominance in the AI race.

The company aims to expand its foothold in the AI user market, following its lead against competitors such as Alibaba and Baidu Inc., which have made more significant investments in AI technologies.

Despite this competitive landscape, lingering questions remain about how companies will eventually monetize these AI services, which are currently offered for free and increasingly available in open source formats for other developers to utilize, as demonstrated by DeepSeek’s approach with its AI models.

At this stage, the emphasis continues to be on attracting the highest number of users, wherein Tencent has gained an advantage over its rivals.