The United States Department of Defense has added Chinese technology companies Tencent Holdings and CATL to its list of business it says have ties to China’s military.
Tencent operates messaging apps WeChat and QQ, while CATL is the world’s largest electric vehicle battery manufacturer.
“As the Company is neither a Chinese military company nor a military-civil fusion contributor to the Chinese defense industrial base, it believes that its inclusion in the CMC [Chinese Military Companies] List is a mistake,” Tencent CEO Ma Huateng said in a statement to investors.
“The Company intends to initiate a Reconsideration Process to correct this mistake,” Ma said. “During the process, it will engage in discussions with the U.S. Department of Defense to resolve any misunderstanding, and if necessary, will undertake legal proceedings to remove the Company from the CMC List.”
Tencent also owns Tencent Music, the parent company of music streaming services QQ Music and KuGou.
The company is the second largest gaming company in the world, as of its 2023 annual earnings report. Its subsidiaries include TiMi Studio Group and LightSpeed Studios, and it holds shares in major gaming companies like Ubisoft, FromSoftware, and Epic Games.
CATL agreed to partner with American car manufacturer Ford in 2023, and plans to open 1,000 battery swapping stations in China over 2025.
New additions to the list also include COSCO, China’s largest shipping company, chipmaker Changxin Memory Technologies, and state-owned plane manufacturer COMAC.
Tencent’s (SEHK: 700) share price closed at HK$379.60, plummeting from its previous close at $409.40. Its market capitalisation is HK$3.47 trillion.
CATL’s (SZSE: 300750) share price closed at CN¥249.45, down from the its previous close at ¥256.75. Its market capitalisation is CN¥1.1 trillion.
