AI Boom Reshapes Software Industry as Global Expansion Faces New Challenges

Artificial intelligence is redefining the software industry, transforming the way companies build, operate, and expand across borders. Yet as global tech giants double down on AI-driven productivity, their traditional globalization playbooks are being tested like never before.

Tencent Holdings, China’s largest internet conglomerate, announced that by 2025, half of all new code across the group will be written with the assistance of AI. Within its cloud division, the adoption rate is even higher — 65% of new code is now generated by its proprietary AI coding assistant, Codebuddy.

According to the Tencent R&D Big Data Report 2025, over 90% of its engineers are now using AI programming tools. AI now participates in 94% of code reviews and autonomously identifies nearly a third of all code issues. As a result, Tencent says its software development efficiency has jumped more than 20%.

Tencent’s aggressive adoption of AI mirrors a broader trend reshaping the global software landscape — one where traditional boundaries of production, innovation, and competition are rapidly being redrawn.

The AI Video Wars: OpenAI vs. Google

Nowhere is this transformation more visible than in the recent AI video-generation race. On October 1, OpenAI launched Sora 2, its latest multimodal video model capable of generating synchronized visuals and audio. The product immediately went viral on social media worldwide. Two weeks later, Google countered with Veo 3.1, boasting enhanced storytelling and audio capabilities, and full integration with Google’s Flow video editing platform and Gemini AI system — a direct challenge to OpenAI’s dominance.

This escalating rivalry between AI leaders underscores how generative AI has become the new front line in global tech competition. But while Silicon Valley giants sprint ahead with next-generation models, Chinese firms like Tencent and Wondershare are quietly transforming from within — betting their future on becoming AI-native organizations.

“In this wave of AI, Tencent is both a driver and a beneficiary,” said Xu Huabin, Vice President of Tencent Cloud, in an interview with TMTPost Focus. Xu described how the company has built a multi-layered AI infrastructure that spans fundamental models, middleware, and enterprise-facing products.

AI is no longer just a tool — it’s becoming the foundation of Tencent’s software ecosystem. “We are seeing AI deeply embedded in every phase of our R&D system,” Xu said.

Wondershare Technology, another Chinese company known globally for its creative software tools, is undergoing a similar transformation. Traditionally focused on SaaS-based creative solutions, Wondershare has been reinventing itself through AI-native applications such as Wondershare AI and Wondershare Media Agent, betting on a long-term shift in how digital content is created.

To fund its AI pivot, Wondershare set up dedicated project teams and departments, allocated new budgets, and sacrificed short-term profits to secure a position in the AI creative market. Its 2024 interim financial report showed a 8.55% year-on-year increase in R&D spending to 209 million yuan, largely driven by higher server and AI software costs. Server expenses surged 44% year-on-year, while AI software procurement rose by 45%.

“We are intentionally trading short-term profitability for future growth,” said Zhang Zheng, Vice President of Wondershare Technology. “To truly succeed in the AI era, companies must be willing to rebuild themselves from the inside out.”

The Global Expansion Question

But as companies like Tencent and Wondershare embrace AI transformation, a critical question arises: can past globalization strategies still work in the AI age?

Wondershare’s global journey began with paid SaaS subscriptions, targeting mature markets in North America and Europe before expanding into emerging regions such as Southeast Asia and Africa. Its total revenue for the first three quarters of 2025 reached 1.142 billion yuan, up 8.5% from a year earlier.

“The center of digital infrastructure is shifting,” Xu noted. “While North America, Europe, and Singapore remain Tencent Cloud’s core revenue regions, we’re seeing explosive growth in Latin America and Southeast Asia.”

During the internet boom, Chinese companies rode the wave of PC and mobile infrastructure to expand globally. But in the AI age — where the underlying computing stack is being rebuilt from scratch — the same playbook may no longer apply.

Zhang said Wondershare’s decades of experience in video editing and creative tools provided a technical edge in developing AI-powered applications. “Our background in scripting, camera movement, asset retrieval, and non-linear editing directly feeds into our AI generation models,” he explained. “But not all of our global insights are transferable. For example, AI still struggles in data recovery, so previous experience offers little leverage there.”

Xu Huabin believes cloud providers like Tencent can play a key enabling role for Chinese firms going global. “Don’t reinvent the wheel,” he advised. “Cloud providers already have mature technical products that startups can use to accelerate development and monetization. The second critical point is compliance — understanding local laws, market entry, and hiring practices is essential.”

From Experience to Ecosystem

As AI systems become more sophisticated, enterprise service providers with domain-specific expertise stand to gain a competitive edge. But in the long run, experts believe the AI era will create entirely new ecosystems — ones that render old software paradigms obsolete.

“The AI revolution will lead to new hardware and software paradigms, entirely new operating systems, and fundamentally different models of human-computer interaction,” said Dong Hongguang, founder of Guangfan Technology. “These native AI applications will go beyond the browser and mobile app frameworks we’re familiar with today.”

In that sense, past globalization experience could be both an asset and a liability. Experience in operations, marketing, and localization remains invaluable, but it may also limit agility if companies cling to outdated frameworks.

“The companies that succeed globally in the AI age,” said Xu, “will be those that learn to unlearn.”

The Next Frontier: Competing Through Integration

Both Tencent and Wondershare share a belief that AI-driven globalization will rely not just on technology, but on integration — connecting infrastructure, regulation, and user experience into a unified framework.

Tencent Cloud is leveraging its global network to support AI developers in compliance, local deployment, and computing infrastructure — especially in emerging markets. Meanwhile, Wondershare is exploring how its AI creative tools can integrate directly with international short-video platforms and enterprise users.

What’s emerging is a new model of globalization — one built on collaboration between AI infrastructure providers, software developers, and content creators.

“The global AI race is not just about who has the most advanced models,” Zhang concluded. “It’s about who can integrate AI into real business value, who can scale globally, and who can understand the human side of creativity and productivity.”

In other words, as AI continues to blur the line between technology and creativity, globalization itself is being redefined — not as a matter of expansion, but of intelligent integration.