China Digital Exports Surge As Alibaba, Tencent Lead Global Push

China’s revenue from digital services sold abroad is soaring as tech champions from ByteDance Ltd. to Tencent Holdings Ltd. step up their overseas forays into live streaming, e-commerce and artificial intelligence.

The trade surplus from digital services, which covers a wide range of businesses from telecommunications operations to cloud computing, more than doubled to $33 billion in 2025, according to data from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange. The telecom, computer and information services category, which includes artificial intelligence, expanded by nearly 30 percent last year, according to Bloomberg calculations based on balance of payments data.

The increase underscores the increasing urgency of seeking growth beyond the world’s second-largest economy, where intense domestic competition and lackluster demand are weighing on profitability.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. accounts for the lion’s share of China’s digital exports, operating in e-commerce, gaming and social networking through household names such as Tencent and ByteDance, Lazada and TikTok. U.S. export restrictions on high-end chips have prompted Chinese AI developers to set up offshore data centers for easier access to more advanced technology.

Alibaba and its rivals operate large computing platforms that mostly serve the international operations of Chinese firms. Tencent’s cloud facilities stretch from Silicon Valley to Riyadh and Singapore and support services such as video conferencing and gaming. ByteDance’s TikTok is building a $38 billion AI-related data center in Brazil; This is the company’s latest foray into South America after years of gradual expansion in Europe, the US and Southeast Asia.

The overseas expansion of Chinese electric vehicle, renewable energy and manufacturing companies is further driving the need for digital services abroad. Such companies require data to be processed and stored offshore, driving demand for Chinese cloud providers including state-backed telecom operators, Huawei Technologies Co., Alibaba and Tencent.

SAFE’s data, which does not provide company-level details, covers cross-border money transactions between domestic and foreign firms and does not include revenues that are not repatriated. Net surplus reflects net inflows.

China’s overall trade surplus rises to a record $1.2 trillion in 2025, thanks to a rapid increase in exports. However, the country’s services trade had been running a deficit for years. Beijing has promised to find ways to help Chinese companies export services, including digital and AI-powered offerings.

Software and data are one of the few strong cases for China. The country is the world’s fourth-largest provider of telecom, computer and information services, according to the International Monetary Fund classification, which covers cross-border activities such as data transmission, cloud computing and software development. India ranks first in this category, backed by its large software outsourcing industry.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to the text.