KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 1): China's technology giant Tencent Holdings Ltd is planning to expand its WeChat mini programme ecosystem in Malaysia as the company sees rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) adoption and cross-border digital services by local businesses. 

The mini programmes — applications that run instantly within the WeChat super app — have already gained strong traction in its home-based country, China, as well as Singapore and several other markets, according to Tencent Cloud International Pte Ltd's general manager of Singapore and Malaysia Kenneth Siow. 

“We started the pilot in Singapore and Macau. And in our next pipeline, Malaysia…they (Malaysian businesses) are on the priority list...because we see the demand in the market,” Siow told reporters during a media briefing at Tencent's newly opened regional office at 1 Sentrum, which the company relocated to from Mid Valley.  

Tencent Cloud International is a subsidiary of Tencent Cloud, which is the cloud-computing arm of Tencent Holdings.

The mini programme allows payment and e-commerce functions and customer engagement tools to work within the WeChat app without requiring separate installations of stand-alone mobile applications.

The WeChat mini programme offerings in Malaysia will be supported by the company's "cross border payment framework, Global Checkout", which already incorporates local payments — including DuitNow — into the broader ecosystem.

Over the past years, Malaysia has seen rising adoption of cross-border digital payments, supported by "Malaysia's interoperability framework and the Asean QR initiative", the company noted. 

Tencent representatives cited the company’s collaboration with Payments Network Malaysia Sdn Bhd (PayNet), the operator of DuitNow, as an example of increasing demand. 

“The mini programme is one example…and we hope more businesses can come on board to make use of all the multiple products that we have,” said Weixin Pay's regional director of Southeast Asia Etienne Ng. Weixin Pay is a mobile payment used in China for daily transactions through WeChat Pay.  

When asked whether Tencent plans to reintroduce WeChat Pay or its e-wallet services in Malaysia — which ceased operations in August 2024 — the company stressed that it is still "prioritising collaboration over competition" for now. 

“People already have so many options. Our role is to empower those local options to make them regional.

"We used to focus on Chinese travellers, but later realised it brings value to the local society. So we keep our mind open to enable all local payment options to make life more convenient,” TenPay Global (Singapore) chief executive officer James Yang said. 

TenPay links international payment methods within the Weixin Pay ecosystem, allowing users to send money to and from China. 

Tencent also added that Malaysia’s emerging digital economy and rising appetite for internet-driven business models were key factors behind its decision to expand. It noted that demand for AI tools is growing rapidly across Malaysian sectors, especially financial services, where institutions are seeking to automate high-volume, manual tasks.

“Many financial institutions are looking aggressively to reduce labour-intensive processes using AI…such as facial recognition for KYC (know-your-customer),” said Siow, adding that Tencent’s own internal AI infrastructure is being leveraged to support external enterprise clients.