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Tencent Introduces T1 Reasoning Model, Claims Edge In AI Over DeepSeek

Tencent announced on Friday the launch of its official T1 reasoning model, promising faster response times and enhanced capabilities, according to a company statement on WeChat.

New Reasoning Model

Tencent’s new reasoning model has achieved industry-leading results in public benchmark tests across Chinese and English knowledge, competition-level mathematics, and logical reasoning. The company emphasized that T1 maintains clear content logic, with neatly structured text and an exceptionally low hallucination rate.

The T1 model is based on Tencent’s Turbo S language model, offering instant responses, fast wording, and the ability to process long texts effectively. Tencent also noted that the official version of T1 demonstrates improved reasoning capabilities compared to its preview version. The company claimed that T1 outperforms DeepSeek’s R1 model in certain knowledge and reasoning benchmarks.

AI Investments

Tencent’s AI ambitions have been supported by a significant increase in capital expenditure. The company announced plans to ramp up investments in AI development and infrastructure in 2025. Its capital expenditures for 2024 amounted to $10.7 billion, a significant rise from $3.4 billion in 2023, representing 12% of total revenue. In Q4 of 2024 alone, Tencent invested $5.4 billion in AI initiatives, reinforcing its strategy of AI-driven growth.

Tencent’s earnings statement highlighted its recent efforts to reorganize AI teams to sharpen focus on fast product innovation and deep model research. The company has also increased its R&D and marketing investments for AI-native products.

AI Competition

Tencent’s increased focus on AI comes amid rising competition in China’s AI landscape. DeepSeek’s introduction of its R1 model has drawn significant attention, positioning it as a rival to OpenAI’s reasoning model. This competition triggered a sell-off in global equities, with Western tech giants seeing the most significant losses.

In addition to Tencent, other major Chinese players are also making significant investments in AI. Last month, DeepSeek unveiled its R1 model, which competes directly with OpenAI’s models. Furthermore, Alibaba announced plans to invest at least $52.6 billion in cloud computing and AI infrastructure over the next three years. TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, is investing over $20.7 billion in AI development and computing power for 2025.

Net Worth

As of March 23, 2025, Ma Huateng, the chairman and CEO of Tencent, holds a real-time net worth of $54.1 billion. 

With these strategic moves, Tencent aims to further solidify its position as a leader in the AI race, challenging both domestic and international competitors.

Eurobank Wins Two Euromoney Awards Following Cyprus Merger

Eurobank has been named Cyprus’ Best Bank for 2026 by Euromoney, while also receiving the award for Best Bank for Large Corporates at the publication’s latest Awards for Excellence.

Merger Marks A Milestone

The awards recognise the bank’s performance during 2025, a year marked by the completion of the legal merger between Hellenic Bank and Eurobank Cyprus. The transaction created Eurobank Limited, which the group says is now Cyprus’ largest banking and insurance organisation, with assets exceeding €28 billion.

Euromoney’s Awards for Excellence evaluate banks’ performance over the previous calendar year, with this edition covering January 1 to December 31, 2025.

Lending, Customers And Digital Growth

Eurobank said its business lending portfolio expanded by around 17 per cent during 2025, while its customer base grew to more than 710,000 retail clients and 11,500 business customers.

The bank also continued its digital expansion, saying more than 96 per cent of transactions are now completed through digital channels, and most financing applications are submitted via its mobile app.

Expanding International Presence

Eurobank also highlighted the opening of its first representative office in India, describing the move as a step toward strengthening business links between Cyprus and India while supporting Cyprus’ role as a gateway to the European Union for Indian businesses and investors.

According to the bank, Euromoney recognised not only the successful completion of the merger but also its lending growth, digital transformation and contribution to Cyprus’ position as an international business and investment hub.

CEO On The Awards

“The Euromoney awards confirm Eurobank’s strong momentum and the successful implementation of our group’s strategy in Cyprus,” Chief Executive Michalis Louis said.

He said the merger strengthened the bank’s ability to support households, businesses and the wider economy, while highlighting continued investment in digital services and the opening of the representative office in India as key milestones during the year.

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