AI browsers reshape China’s tech battlefield
Alibaba and Tencent are transforming their browsers into AI-powered gateways, betting big on a new strategic front in China’s artificial intelligence ecosystem.
Tencent and Alibaba have reimagined their browsers as AI-first platforms, placing new bets on intelligent assistants and multimodal search.
AI agents integrated into browsers now perform full workflows, like downloading and parsing financial reports on command.
Alibaba’s Quark uses its in-house Tongyi model; Tencent blends its Hunyuan model with rising star DeepSeek.
AI browsers are emerging as the next “operating system” for the AI era, enabling cross-application task execution and data-driven personalization.
In China’s high-velocity tech ecosystem, browsers have long played a quiet but essential role as gateways to the digital world. But in recent years, standalone apps, mini-programs, and super-app ecosystems like WeChat have eroded that centrality.
Now, AI is rewriting the rules, and browsers are reemerging—not just as tools for navigation, but as intelligent platforms at the heart of daily digital interaction.
Tencent and Alibaba, two of China’s tech behemoths, are repositioning their browsers to spearhead this change.
In March 2024, Alibaba’s Quark browser launched the “AI Super Box”, while Tencent responded weeks later by transforming QQ Browser into an AI browser powered by QBot and multi-agent assistants. This move is more than product iteration—it’s a glimpse into China’s vision of AI as infrastructure.
The AI browser as platform, not portal
Both QQ Browser and Quark have evolved from traditional web browsers into AI-first environments designed around integrated large models.
Quark’s “AI Super Box” merges deep search, reasoning, and execution into a minimalist search bar, where users enter commands and receive multi-layered outputs. It's tightly integrated with Alibaba’s Tongyi large language model, customized for Chinese-language tasks and Alibaba’s ecosystem.
QQ Browser’s QBot AI, powered by Tencent’s Hunyuan and DeepSeek models, offers similar capabilities. Its AI hub is tucked behind a menu layer, requiring users to enter a separate “AI Lounge” rather than interacting directly in the search bar—subtly signaling different UI philosophies.
Both browsers cover similar functional terrain: AI search, writing, office automation, and education. QQ Browser drills deeper into file manipulation—offering PDF slimming, content extraction, and format conversion. Quark counters with AI-generated presentations and image synthesis, reflecting its positioning as an academic and productivity tool.
But QQ Browser goes a step further: it’s the first in China to integrate AI agents within a browser. Its high-stakes bet includes agents for stock tracking, software updates, downloads, and even China’s notoriously stressful college entrance exams.
These agents can execute full workflows. For example, QQ’s download assistant can, on a single command, search for Tencent’s Q1 2025 earnings report, filter by file type, extract download links, download the file, and open it. The process requires no further user interaction.
The implication is profound: Browsers are no longer just passive viewers of web content—they are becoming AI-enabled operators.
Diverging numbers reveal early market power
Despite the similar vision, Quark currently dominates in scale and momentum.