Tencent says will open a regional hub in Singapore for Southeast Asia

HONG KONG - Chinese gaming and social media group Tencent said on Tuesday it would open a new office in Singapore that will be its regional hub for Southeast Asia.

The move, adding a Singapore base to offices in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand, comes as Tencent presses on with a global push despite recent app bans in India and the United States.

Southeast Asia has proved an important market for Tencent, with some hit games, including 'Arena of Valor', performing well there. Its cloud computing arm, Tencent Cloud, is also making inroads in the region as the company seeks to tap into a growing demand for remote IT services for home-based workers amid the coronavirus pandemic.

"The Singapore office will also enable us to capture potential from the rapid pace of digitisation and meet the demand for internet-based services and solutions in Singapore," the company said in a statement.

Singapore in recent years has ramped up efforts to attract tech firms and investors.

Reuters reported last week that ByteDance, owner of wildly popular short-form video app TikTok, plans to invest billions of dollars and recruit hundreds of employees in Singapore after opting to base its Southeast Asia regional headquarters there.

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