Tencent Thailand, a local unit of the Chinese tech giant, aims to provide artificial intelligence (AI) technology and cloud services for corporate users to diversify and increase revenue.
"The rise of digital transformation is driving the use of AI-based cloud services among corporate users," said Krittee Manoleehagul, managing director of Tencent Thailand, adding that these technologies can be drawn from Tencent in China.
AI contributed US$2 trillion of global GDP in 2018. By 2030, this is expected to grow to $15.7 trillion.
AI can be integrated into facial recognition technology that can be used in smart cities, electronic know-your-customer technology meant for identify verification, as well as door access.
AI-integrated image recognition technology can also be used for medical treatment, such as lung and breast cancer diagnosis. Object recognition equipment can be employed for unmanned retail shops.
Optical character recognition, which is the electronic conversion of images of handwritten or printed text into actual text, can help facilitate data entry function and reduce errors.
Mr Krittee said the company aims to provide AI and cloud solution services for those in healthcare, retail, finance, tourism, education and transport industries.
The firm's cloud and AI solution services will start this year, capitalising on a local data centre in Thailand, he said.
The company aims to gain one-third of total revenue from corporate users involving business-to-business operations within 3½ years.
Patcharaporn Kwancharoensub, head of branding and communication at Tencent, said the company aims to increase revenue earned from business-to-consumer operations, such as more subscriptions for music, movie and gaming services.
Tencent provides a wide range of services, including news and portal platform Sanook.com and multimedia and entertainment platforms such as Joox music, WeTV and Tencent Games.
Joox has been operating for three years and has 10 million monthly active users.
The use of data analytics is expected to differentiate the app's service from rivals, Mr Patcharaporn said. Podcasting on Joox is also gaining popularity.
Tencent rolled out the video streaming app WeTV earlier this year with a freemium model in which users can watch content for free with advertising. Customers can also choose to pay to watch the content without advertising.
The platform has expanded to other Asean countries. Since June, WeTV has seen an average of 1 million downloads a month in Thailand.
"We aim to provide more exclusive original content, as well as organise offline activities where Chinese celebrities are brought over to meet fans," Mr Krittee said.
For gaming, the company expects sponsorships in Player Unknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) Mobile and other games to rise through e-sports marketing.
Tencent Thailand also helped PUBG Mobile expand in Myanmar. PUBG Mobile has seen about 400 million downloads around the globe.
"We use online and offline channels to increase user engagement to attract more advertising and sponsorship and turn non-paying users into paid subscribers," Mr Krittee said.
Sanook77.co, another online platform focusing more on local and regional content, will be launched in 2020. This is hoped to capitalise on 60% of Sanook.com users being located in provinces other than Bangkok.
The company's advertising revenue accounts for 50-60% of total income.