Chinese tech giant, Tencent is using its WeChat super-app ecosystem to differentiate itself from major global cloud service providers, according to Tencent Cloud CEO, Dowson Tong.
He said that more clients are looking to develop their own super apps, with Tencent Cloud offering technology and expertise based on its experience building the WeChat ecosystem.
Tong disclosed this on the sidelines of the recent annual Singapore Fintech Festival.
“That’s something that makes us stand out, compared to many [other] online platforms,” Tong said.
Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, and Google Cloud Platform are the top three cloud service providers, holding 68% of the market share as of Q2 this year, according to Synergy Research Group.
Super app platforms are typically built on cloud infrastructure, offering scalability, reliability, and efficient resource management.
Tong mentioned that many of Tencent’s cloud services clients are eager to create their own mini programs on WeChat’s network, aiming to attract the existing user base of the super app to their services.
“Many of our enterprise customers … they want to borrow some of the technologies that make our consumer services successful. They also want to leverage our capability to connect to users,” Tong said.
Tencent noted that the majority of this interest comes from the financial and government sectors. For instance, Cambodia’s Canadia Bank partnered with Tencent Cloud to launch a new mobile banking app in 2023.
A super app is a platform that combines multiple services, such as messaging, payments, and food ordering, into a single app.
WeChat is the world’s largest super app, with around 1.3 billion active monthly users, or about 90% of China’s population.
Unlike global competitors like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, which offer a variety of services spread across different platforms, WeChat provides these services within one unified ecosystem.
