SHENZHEN (Sept 5): Tencent Cloud, the cloud computing arm of Hong Kong-listed Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings Ltd, on Thursday said it will introduce its advanced palm verification technology to the global market.

This technology, which has been developed by Tencent's Cloud research team over the last few years, is widely adopted in China — mainly for payments, security access, and electronic know your customer (e-KYC) processes, according to Tencent Cloud AI global commercialisation director Eric Li.

“With Tencent Cloud AI (artificial intelligence) going global this year, we are thrilled to bring this cutting-edge technology to our customers and partners around the world,” Li announced at the Tencent Global Digital Ecosystem Summit 2024.

While specific details about the global expansion are still under wraps, Li said the company is working with several global partners to license the palm verification.

“We have seen a lot of demand, diverse demand in many industries and in every country we have entered,” he said.

Tencent Cloud currently has nine technical support centres spread across nine countries, namely Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Japan, South Korea, the US and Germany.

According to the company, its palm verification technology has been piloted globally and used by leading enterprises, including Indonesia's largest mobile internet provider, Telkomsel.

Li said palm verification offers more advanced technology compared to face verification, offering enhanced security and privacy protection, and is user-friendly.

“This technology can support ultra-large-scale operations at high speed. Right now in China, we have 10 million users using this technology,” he said.

“I'm also proud to say that our product has never made a single mistake so far,” he added.

Besides the palm verification, Tencent Cloud will also introduce its other AI-enabled products for the overseas market, including its knowledge engine platform, digital human and e-KYC — the digital process used by financial institutions and businesses to verify the identity of customers remotely. Its digital human, meanwhile, is a new generation of multi-modal human-computer interaction system that can quickly create intelligent, visual and interactive "digital avatars".
 
The Shenzhen-based Tencent operates Weixin — a widely used messaging and payments app in China — and its sister app, WeChat that is designed for overseas users.

The group is also one of the world’s largest video game vendors. Among its notable game titles in Southeast Asia are PUBG Mobile, Valorant, League of Legends, Teamfight Tactics, Call of Duty: Mobile, and Arena of Valor.

Li also shared that Tencent Cloud is progressing forward with the company's plan to expand the reach of its AI solutions across Asia.

Tencent Cloud achieved a double-digit growth in the international market in the past three years, with the Asia Pacific region seeing at least 50% year-on-year growth.

“In the past few months, we have been developing the [AI] models, for example in Japanese, Korean... Malay [and other] languages are also in the pipeline,” Li said during a media briefing a day earlier on Thursday.

Li said the company is also gaining a deep understanding of local markets to ensure the successful implementation of its AI products.

"We need to get to know more about the local markets — like the culture and also the IT infrastructure," Li said.

Additionally, Tencent Cloud is working to comply with local laws and regulations to gain market access to introduce its AI solutions.

“I think our products are very mature and developed. It just requires more time for us to comply with the local laws and regulations and adapt to the local market requirements,” Li said.

Tencent Cloud has now completed the compliance processes and formed strategic partnerships for its e-KYC solution in Malaysia and Indonesia, he said. In Singapore, the group has launched its digital human solution.