On Tuesday, April 15, 2025, "Tencent Cloud Day Japan 2025" was held.
The event is an annual conference centered around "Tencent Cloud", the cloud business operated by global technology company Tencent Holdings Ltd., where leaders from various industries participate in discussions.
This article focuses mainly on the media interview session.
Interview with Mr. Bluefin Zhao and Mr. Hanson Liu
Currently serves as the Vice President of Tencent Cloud and Managing Director of APAC. Since joining Tencent in 2016, he has been leading the Asia-Pacific team and is committed to operating and expanding the business of the cloud computing industry. He served as the sales director at Hutchison Whampoa, accumulating rich business experience and being proficient in sales strategy and customer relationship management. Before this, he served as a senior engineer at IBM and possessed profound engineering knowledge and skills.
Hanson Liu has played a pivotal role in establishing and expanding major technology enterprises in Japan.
By 2021, he was appointed Senior Special Advisor to Tencent Cloud, significantly contributing to its strategic growth in Japan.
His leadership and vision led to his promotion in 2023 as the Japan Country Manager of Tencent Cloud, where he currently oversees operations and spearheads further expansion initiatives in the region.
Q. The opening of the third data center in Japan was also announced, but what are some examples of current Tencent Cloud usage?
Mr. Hanson Liu: Approximately 95% of our clients are based in Japan.
Usage is often for AI hubs and social games.
Especially in the entertainment domain, fields like games and streaming currently account for about half.
On the other hand, there is a certain amount of business supporting clients expanding into China, and since last year, we have also seen significant growth in the financial and retail sectors.
Regarding the Osaka data center, we decided to build it to support Japanese critical infrastructure and BCP (Business Continuity Plan) measures.
I believe the existence of the Osaka data center is meaningful as it meets the needs for diverse regions and Availability Zones (AZs).
Mr. Bluefin Zhao: Since Tencent is a company born in China, it is a natural progression to cooperate with Chinese companies expanding overseas.
However, the percentage of our business with Chinese companies expanding overseas is actually relatively decreasing.
The reality is that the vast majority of our services are provided to local companies in overseas markets, such as Japanese companies in the Japan region.
As evidence of this, many companies participated and gave presentations at "Tencent Cloud Day Japan 2025," and by listening to them, you can see the extent of our business expansion in Japan.
Saiga NAKQ. What are Tencent Cloud's strengths as it aims to expand its cloud business in Japan?
Mr. Hanson Liu: We call ourselves "a cloud that stays close to our customers."
We have worked closely alongside customers, sometimes even staying up all night for tasks like migration.
We provide extensive support for service deployment, and I believe that has been a key factor in earning significant trust from our customers.
Furthermore, we have developed and provided numerous solutions to address issues like labor shortages and system aging.
I believe Tencent Cloud is a cost-effective service, even amidst business management challenges like the weak yen and rising labor costs.
Q. What is the importance of the cloud business for Tencent?
Mr. Bluefin Zhao: The cloud business is extremely important within Tencent's portfolio, considered a strategic business.
Tencent is one of the companies with the highest market capitalization in the Asia Pacific region.
However, Tencent has no physical production lines or factories whatsoever; all our products are digital.
In other words, all our operations and products run on 0s and 1s, and Tencent Cloud is precisely what supports them.
Saiga NAKQ. Amidst the strong presence of US cloud services, what is Tencent Cloud's vision for Japan?
Mr. Bluefin Zhao: At the very least, we aim to be number one among "Oriental Clouds."
For the Japanese market, Tencent Cloud is a relatively late entrant.
Therefore, I believe that leveraging our unique strengths and characteristics, such as providing modules that draw upon our extensive gaming business expertise, will help us stand out.
Also, this relates to Tencent's management philosophy: when we conduct business, we emphasize "growing 'together' with our partners."
Rather than simply providing services, we work with our partners to create better solutions by leveraging the strengths of each company and the unique characteristics of the industry.
This directly relates to Tencent Cloud's strengths.
Q. What are the future plans for expanding data centers?
Mr. Hanson Liu: Based on business performance, we set a very ambitious goal for constructing the Osaka data center.
We may consider further expansion depending on future business performance trends.
Also, we recently announced the construction of our first data center in the Middle East in Saudi Arabia, which gives you an idea of the scale of investment.
Information Exchange Facilitated Through Booth Experiences and Presentations by Various Companies
YouTuber and influencer Fujii Yodan (@MTNRFG) also participated in "Tencent Cloud Day Japan 2025."
Examples of usage, such as for online crane games, were introduced.
Furthermore...
- "Opening Speech" Mr. Dowson Tong (Tencent)
- "Keynote Speaking" Mr. Hanson Liu (Tencent Cloud Japan)
- "The Future of Search Changed by Generative AI!" Mr. Jinsong Tang (Sparticle Inc.)
- "AI Products Using Tencent AI Technology" Mr. Kenta Noro (Vector Inc.)
- "Tabelog's Initiatives for Inbound Tourism ~Possibilities Opened by Partnership with Tencent Cloud~" Mr. Taku Konoike (Kakaku.com, Inc.)
- "Building a Live Streaming App Using Tencent Real-Time Communication" Mr. Masaki Hitonishi (ColorSing Inc.)
- "[Fireside Chat] Japan's Evolving Game Industry Through AI Innovation and Global Strategy" Mr. Takashi Miyamoto (COLOPL, Inc.), Mr. Poshu Yeung (Tencent)
- "From Zero to 100: How the Cloud Opens the Future of Games" Mr. Masashiro Yokosuka (KMS, Inc.)
- "Aiming's Tencent Cloud Review" Mr. Hiroshi Noshita (Aiming Inc.)
- "Financial Security Supported by Tencent Cloud: Practical Cloud Solutions" Mr. Jaden Li (Tencent Cloud)
- "Tencent Cloud Supports Innovation and Transformation in the Financial Industry" Mr. David Yang (Tencent Cloud)
Various companies gave keynote speeches on their respective themes, introducing cutting-edge industry case studies related to Tencent Cloud over approximately two hours.
Tencent Cloud operates in 21 regions and 56 availability zones.
The Middle East region is scheduled to launch in 2025, and the Osaka region in 2026.
At #TencentCloudDay Japan 2025, we celebrated our commitment to Japan's digital growth with over 230 guests, including leaders from COLOPL, Tabelog, Aiming, KMS, Vector & ColorSing. We announced a new Cloud Region in #Osaka, which marks our third availability zone in Japan. This… pic.twitter.com/uJ09h9Q9Mo
— Tencent Cloud (@tencentcloud) April 17, 2025
