With this all-cash acquisition, Microsoft is now the third-largest gaming company by revenue, behind Tencent and Sony.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company has reopened a lead over internet giant Tencent Holdings as Asia's biggest company by market value, helped by a resumed rally in chip stocks.

Chinese tech stocks slumped as weak corporate earnings coupled with a dimming global growth outlook intensified selling.

China's government on Wednesday summoned gaming firms including Tencent Holdings and NetEase to ensure they implement new rules for the sector.

Senior Trump administration officials had been mulling plans to add the tech giants to a list of firms with alleged Chinese military links

The shares of Alibaba and Tencent fell after a Wall Street Journal report said the Trump administration could be about to add the Chinese tech giants to a U.S. blacklist.

Tencent along with a number of investors including CITIC, CICC Capital and Primavera invested 1.8 billion yuan ($278.5 million) in Shanghai-headquartered Enflame Technology.

Hong Kong-listed shares of Alibaba plunged 8.86% by Wednesday afternoon in Asia, while Tencent dropped 5.38%. Smartphone maker Xiaomi also declined 5.73% and Meituan fell 7.47%. JD.com also saw its stock plummet 8.11%.

Tencent's market capitalization has surpassed Facebook's following a huge rally in the Chinese firm's shares this year.

Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings will invest 500 billion yuan ($70 billion) over the next five years in technology infrastructure including cloud computing, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, the company said Tuesday.

Tencent posted earnings that beat expectations thanks to its gaming business as well as better-than-expected performance in both advertising and fintech services.

Chinese internet giant Tencent has reportedly been surveilling content posted by foreign users on its messaging app WeChat in order to help it refine censorship on its platform at home, according to research center Citizen Lab.

China's central bank will launch a state-backed cryptocurrency and issue it to seven institutions in the coming months, according to a former employee of one of the institutions who is now an independent researcher.

Qualcomm and Tencent said on Monday they will cooperate on projects that could include making the Chinese company's videogames play better on devices with Qualcomm chips, and create a 5G version of a Tencent-backed gaming phone.

China's Tencent has won a key approval to start selling the Nintendo Switch in the country, paving the way for the console to enter the world's largest video games market two years after it was first released worldwide.

The collaboration will cover hardware, software and services.

Alphabet Inc's Google has agreed to a patent licensing deal with Tencent Holdings Ltd as it looks for ways to expand in China where many of its products, such as app store, search engine and email service, are blocked by regulators.

Tencent chief executive Ma Huateng is now worth more than Google's founders.

Shares of Tencent, China's biggest gaming and social media firm by revenue, fell nearly 4% this week up to the close of trade on Tuesday, wiping some US$12 billion off its market value. The stock was up more than 1% on Wednesday, reversing earlier losses.

China Internet giant Tencent has limited the hours that children can play several of its most popular games. It said the measures, restricting gaming depending on the player's age, were "to dispel parents' worries."

Tencent, Asia's second highest valued tech firm, has bought a five percent share in Tesla. According to a filing, the Chinese firm scooped up 8,167,544 shares for around $1.7 billion to become one of Tesla's largest shareholders.

Tesla says the stake is passive, meaning Tencent will not get a say in how the US firm is run.

Apple launched its Apple Pay mobile payments service in China on Thursday, opening the door to a vast market of smartphone users, as well as newfound competition in an established touchless systems segment leaders Tencent and Alibaba.

One of China's largest internet companies is intensifying its efforts to crack the African market with a bid to disrupt Facebook's WhatsApp with a rival messenging service.

Motorola's Mobility Unit in China has confirmed a plan to lay off 800 employees after two months of silence, according to Tencent. The company will make three rounds of cuts at the end of May, July and September.