Tencent's search dream is rekindled by DeepSeek

On the first Sunday after Valentine’s Day, the topic of “WeChat DeepSeek King Bomb Combination” became a hot search on Weibo.

Some users have found that by clicking AI Search on the WeChat search interface and then selecting DeepSeek-R1, they can use the DeepSeek-R1 model to search for content for free. This feature is still under testing and only some users can see it.

This news has made Tencent one of the most sought-after "DeepSeek concept stocks" recently. On February 17, Tencent Holdings opened 6.57% higher at HK$506, returning to HK$500, a new high since July 2021.

By leveraging DeepSeek to deeply explore ecological advantages, WeChat and even Tencent may open up new space for imagination.

Image source: Tencent financial report

WeChat search, which has attracted much attention due to its integration with DeepSeek, has actually been around for more than a decade. As early as June 2014, WeChat launched the search function, but the initial function was very simple and could only search for chat records.

Image source: WeChat

In the following years, as the WeChat ecosystem gradually prospered, the capabilities of WeChat search continued to expand, and public account articles, mini-programs, emoticons, short videos and other content were included. In order to enhance users' awareness of the search function, WeChat officially launched the "Search" portal in May 2017.

WeChat has increased its investment in search not only to connect the vast content library within the ecosystem, but also because it sees the huge commercial value of the search business and hopes to become an important entry point in the mobile Internet era.

As one of the oldest businesses in the Internet industry, search has a clear and efficient business model due to its clear user orientation. Take Baidu as an example. Although it has laid out businesses such as smart driving and cloud computing in recent years, the advertising business with search as the main carrier is still an important performance pillar. In Q3 2024, Baidu's online marketing business revenue was 18.8 billion yuan, accounting for 56% of its revenue.

In the era of mobile Internet, data islands have emerged, and it is difficult for traditional search engines to crawl content on platforms such as WeChat official accounts, Toutiao, and Pinduoduo. Tencent, 360, Alibaba, and ByteDance saw the opportunity and launched or upgraded their search businesses in an attempt to get a piece of the pie. For example, since 2020, ByteDance has launched products such as Toutiao Search, Wukong Search, Lightning Search, and Douyin Search.

Image source: StatCounter

In the past few years, search products have emerged in large numbers, and national-level apps such as WeChat and Toutiao have continuously strengthened their search functions, but none of them have shaken Baidu's position in the market.

According to StatCounter data, in January 2025, Baidu's market share in China's search market was 47.07%, and in the mobile search market, Baidu's market share was as high as 58.6%. This shows to a large extent that it is difficult for existing solutions to bring Baidu down.

The sudden popularity of AI big models has brought new problem-solving ideas to the search industry.

In early February this year, Zhu Xiaohu, managing director of GSR Ventures, praised DeepSeek in an interview: "In the PC Internet era, search was the first killer app. Today, the first killer app in the AI ​​era is also search."

AI search powered by a large model can understand user intent through AI technology, efficiently sort out massive amounts of information on the entire network, and then generate accurate content, effectively avoiding the pain points of traditional search such as too many advertisements and mixed information.

Left: WeChat AI search; Right: Baidu

After experiencing it, Snow Leopard Finance found that on some issues, AI search does have stronger advantages than traditional search engines.

For example, we asked the question "Briefly introduce the latest dance video of Yushu Robot" to WeChat AI Search and Baidu at the same time. The former gave a detailed introduction to the facts and the technical principles behind them, which can bring a better user experience.

Traditional search companies represented by Baidu and Google, Internet giants represented by 360 and Tencent, and start-ups represented by Mida have all increased their investment in AI search-related products.

On February 3, Nano AI Search took the lead and became the first search engine in China to access the full version of DeepSeek-R1. Zhou Hongyi, the founder of 360 Group, also spared no effort to promote Nano AI Search by performing in short plays, appearing on variety shows, and giving away 100 domestically produced new energy vehicles for free.

At the Nano AI Search for New Energy Vehicles event held on February 12, Zhou Hongyi revealed that Nano AI Search had accumulated 20 million users during the Spring Festival, "which is the best achievement 360 has achieved in the wireless Internet era."

The ability of AI search is directly proportional to the size of the base model. Previously, Internet giants only needed to dig deep into closed-source models and improve the model's material analysis and reasoning capabilities to build a deep moat in the field of AI search.

DeepSeek is open source, which has largely brought the underlying capabilities of AI search products together. After experiencing it, Snow Leopard Finance found that when the same question was sent to multiple AI search engines connected to DeepSeek, such as Baidu AI Search, Nano AI Search, and Secret Tower AI Search, the results obtained were highly similar.

Although the underlying technology is highly similar to other products, as a national social software, WeChat, with its unique content ecosystem advantages such as official accounts, video accounts, and mini-programs, may greatly broaden the content dimension of AI search feedback and build a closed-loop ecological experience: starting from searching for information and ending with purchasing goods, services or solutions.

For example, when asking “How do I book tickets for the Forbidden City?”, if WeChat AI search can directly add the link to the Palace Museum’s mini-program in the answer, users can complete the reservation with one click.

The above business model is not a simple guess, but a consistent strategic orientation of WeChat. At the 2020 WeChat Open Class PRO, Zhang Xiaolong, the founder of WeChat and senior vice president of Tencent, mentioned, "We have a dream for mini programs. We hope that search can be included in every mini program, so that a large number of mini programs can support various long-tail search needs."

Traditional search engines find it difficult to penetrate into mini programs, but the open source DeepSeek can efficiently match user needs with the services of a large number of WeChat mini programs in vertical scenarios.

As Zhang Xiaolong said, "Many people are not willing to actively obtain information, but prefer to obtain it passively."

Can WeChat AI search, which can greatly reduce the cost of users obtaining information, stage its own "surprise moment" like WeChat Pay?

Cover source: Stills from the movie "Pearl Harbor"