Tencent’s continued investment in AI has again sent Naspers shares rallying, this time more than 10% on Tuesday on news the company is close to launching an AI agent in its WeChat super app. Due to Naspers’ investment in Tencent South African investors can benefit from China’s push to become a dominant player in the global AI race. According to the Financial Times, Tencent is developing an AI agent prototype for the WeChat ecosystem, with plans to start the compliance process this month, in preparation for a public launch. Internet giant Tencent is still the Naspers stable’s largest investment.(Dorothy Kgosi) The company’s shares rose 10.46% in Hong Kong on Tuesday, helping to drive up Naspers and Prosus’ value. Naspers closed 10.28% higher on the JSE, while Prosus — listed in Johannesburg and Amsterdam — was 8.06% higher. The Naspers stable now has a combined R2.46-trillion market cap. In March, Naspers and Prosus added a combined R208bn to their market caps in one trading session as Tencent launched an AI agent for workplace tasks — WorkBuddy — that is fully compatible with OpenClaw.This is part of a growing trend regarding AI-powered agents, known as agentic AI, taking over more tasks from people, such as an agent that works like a personal assistant, making bookings, creating meetings and summarising notes and other important information.WeChat, which boasts 1.4-billion active users, is the world’s largest super app and a key part of Tencent’s business. Tencent is being rewarded for integrating AI into a commercial product while it has been viewed as a laggard compared with fellow Chinese tech players such as Alibaba and Bytedance. Naspers’ management has over the years been trying to unlock value from its vast portfolio of businesses in areas such as food delivery, classifieds, fintech and education, which are not fully reflected in the Prosus share price.The value of units such as PayU, Brazil’s iFood, Germany’s Delivery Hero and India’s Swiggy is dwarfed by the group’s stake in Tencent, the China-based technology and entertainment conglomerate valued at about $160bn.To counter this, the group has focused on proving the value of its non-Tencent business, with the first goal of generating profits being achieved in 2024.The strategy appears to be bearing fruit, as Naspers reported a strong set of interim results driven by e-commerce growth. It is on track to deliver its guidance of more than $1.1bn in adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) for the full year to March.E-commerce adjusted ebitda grew 71% to $557m.