Shares of TENCENT (00700) surged more than 3% in late trading. At the time of writing, the stock was up 2.67% to HK$431.4, with a turnover of HK$11.204 billion.

The movement follows news that the native WeChat Agent "Xiaowei" has begun a limited-scale gray testing phase starting June 20. Users can access it by clicking on the main WeChat interface, within chat dialog boxes, or through quick-share entry points.

Following the exposure of WeChat's AI internal testing, the enterprise version, WeChat Work, is also set to launch an AI Agent named "Dayuan," which has currently entered its internal testing phase.

Analysts point out that for AI Agents, ecosystem development represents a core competitive barrier.

The integration of an Agent into WeChat is poised to fully unlock the value of its vast user base and application resources, establishing an efficient and diverse Agent ecosystem. This move is expected to propel WeChat into becoming a new "super gateway" in the AI era, potentially enabling Tencent to gain a competitive edge in the AI race.

Furthermore, WeChat is actively promoting collaborations on device ends, such as mobile phones, which could help position WeChat as a new operating system for the AI age.