Tencent and Baidu are integrating DeepSeek into their platforms’ search functions, as Chinese companies rush to partner with the rapidly rising artificial intelligence startup.
Tencent is testing allowing users of its Weixin messaging app to search the web with DeepSeek. Baidu will add DeepSeek’s AI models to its search engine.
Weixin users can use “the full version of the DeepSeek-R1 model for free to [enjoy] a more diverse search experience,” according to Tencent.
Weixin is China’s largest messaging app. Combined with WeChat, Weixin’s sister app aimed at international users, Tencent said the apps had over 1.3 billion users in 2022.
Both Tencent and Baidu have made their own AI models. Baidu said last week that its Ernie chatbot would be available for free from 1 April, while Tencent released a new version of its Hunyuan AI model in January that can generate three-dimensional visual assets.
Tencent also plans to add DeepSeek’s models to its AI assistants Tencent Cloud and Tencent Yuanbao.
Car companies like BYD and telecommunications firms like China Mobile have also partnered with DeepSeek to incorporate its AI models. The release of DeepSeek’s first free chatbot last month temporarily tanked AI-related stocks like Nvidia due to its low cost of development.
South Korea said today it would halt new downloads of DeepSeek in the country, with DeepSeek’s representatives saying it had not adequately followed South Korean data protection laws.
Tencent’s share price (HKSE: 0700) opened 6.6% higher at HK$506 following the announcement, reaching a three-year record.
Its share price stood at HK$491.20 as of time of writing, up from its previous close at $474.80. Its market capitalisation is HK$4.47 trillion.
