The US Department of Defense has officially added Chinese megacorp Tencent to the federal register of companies deemed to have ties to the Chinese military (thanks, Bloomberg).
The addition to the list does not come with any specific sanctions for Tencent, though it may affect the company’s ability to do business in the United States in the future, with US companies being discouraged from dealing with any of those mentioned on the ‘blacklist’.
Bloomberg reports that shares in Tencent have dipped by 7% since it was formally added to the list, marking its biggest drop since October 2024.
Tencent spokesperson Danny Marti released a statement to The Verge, where he described the designation as a “misunderstanding”:
We are not a military company or supplier. Unlike sanctions or export controls, this listing has no impact on our business. We will nonetheless work with the Department of Defense to address any misunderstanding.
In the past, companies have managed to be removed from the US government’s ‘blacklist’, which started after then-President Donald Trump ordered a ban on US companies from investing in any businesses deemed to have ties to the Chinese military. In 2021, the Department of Defense removed the Chinese tech giant Xiaomi from the federal register mere months after it was added. Based on the above statement, it appears that Tencent hopes to achieve the same result.
As a reminder, Tencent currently stands as the world’s largest games company, owning studios like League of Legends‘ Riot Games, Dying Light developer Techland and more. The megacorp also holds large shares in the likes of Epic Games, FromSoftware, Activision Blizzard and Ubisoft — in which it remains in discussions regarding a potential buyout.
On top of that, this is the company responsible for distributing the pared-back version of the Switch in China. Last November, Tencent Nintendo Switch announced that it will end all of the region’s online services in 2026, with eShop purchases closing in March and all code redemptions wrapping up in May.