Alibaba, Tencent, ByteDance and DeepSeek step up fight heading into ‘crucial’ holiday season
The intensifying battle for AI app users in China echoes earlier fights among e-commerce and social media platforms for market share.   © Reuters
CISSY ZHOU
February 10, 2026 10:53 JST
HONG KONG — China’s biggest AI companies are releasing new models and handing out “red envelope” freebies to woo users ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, traditionally a prime season for companies to drum up consumer interest in Asia’s largest economy.