Webscale Playbook: Tencent
- Publisher MTN Consulting.
- Publish Date August 27, 2020
- Sector Infrastructure, Internet, Technology, Video Entertainment.
- Company

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