Tencent’s meteoric rise into one of the leading internet businesses coincides with China’s internet boom that started at the end of 20th century. According to the ITU estimates, just ~1.8% of China’s total population were internet users in the year 2000 – two years after Tencent was founded – that has now exploded to about 64%. Tencent’s initial journey began with the desktop-based instant messaging offering, QQ (initially QICQ), which slowly gained popularity and provided the company with a strong footprint in the domestic market. The start of the new decade saw more users going mobile with the increased cellphone penetration in the country, which led Tencent to launch its popular mobile instant messaging app, WeChat (Weixin in China) in 2011.

Contents

Abstract

Operational Scale

Latest Earnings Results (2Q20) – Key Takeaways

Revenue Analysis

Capex & R&D: Spending Analysis

Key Tech-related Spending Avenues

Key Technology Relationships in Networks

Vendor Market Analysis

Data Center Footprint

Network Strategy

Appendix

List of charts/tables

Tencent’s Webscale Network Infrastructure Metrics

Tencent Revenues: 1Q19 - 2Q20

YoY Growth Rate (CAPEX vs. OPEX): 1Q19 - 2Q20

Profitability Margins: 1Q19 - 2Q20

Revenues & YoY Growth

FY2019 Business Revenue Split (MTN Consulting estimates)

Annualized Capex and R&D, % Revenues

Tencent’s annualized share of WNO network & IT capex (MTN Consulting estimates)

Key Technology Relationships in Networks

Top Vendors, All Years: Tencent

Contracts by Product, Tencent: all years (36)

Data Centre Footprint