Tencent

Here's a twist. China based Tencent, which just happens to be Asia's most valuable company (market cap $300 billion), is going big into AI (artificial intelligence) and is going to open a research facility in Seattle. China opening facilities in the US? Super good news and VERY intelligent (artificial or not). Tencent has already 'snagged' some top talent and plans to staff the new lab with 20 brilliant minds. Hey Seattle, grab some more of those Chinese firms.

(Bill Taylor/CEO)

Chinese social media and gaming giant Tencent Holdings said on Tuesday it will open an artificial intelligence (AI) research facility in Seattle in the United States, to be led by former Microsoft scientist Yu Dong.

Yu, who has been appointed as deputy head of Tencent's AI Lab division, will run the new lab as well as spearhead research in speech recognition and natural language understanding, the company said.

Tencent, which owns the popular WeChat messaging app, is Asia's most valuable company with a market capitalization of nearly $300 billion.

Shenzhen-headquartered Tencent is one of a number of Chinese technology juggernauts that are stepping up efforts in AI research. Tencent's WeChat has more than 889 million monthly active users.

Tencent has more than 50 researchers and more than 200 engineers at its AI Lab in Shenzhen, which was established in April 2016, according to the company.

China's "Big Three" tech firms - Tencent, Baidu Inc and Alibaba - have been competing to attract top-notch talent..."

Source: Reuters