0302 GMT - Tencent management's response to questions from analysts on expected returns on AI investments appears "vague" to Morningstar analyst Ivan Su. "Responses were consistently vague and often defaulted to the argument that compute could be rented to third parties through Tencent Cloud if AI applications underperform," Su says after the company's earnings call. The analyst suggests that this implies that the current AI roadmap has yet to demonstrate standalone economics. Tencent's stance echoes Meta's early messaging on AI investment returns, which were expected to come indirectly through ad-targeting improvements before shifting toward external compute services. A similar path seems plausible for Tencent over the next few years, Su adds. Tencent's shares are last down 2.9% at HK$448.20.