Oracle abandons $7 billion Tencent AI deal under Trump pressure, FT reports

Nov 4 (Reuters) - Oracle has canceled a multibillion-dollar chip leasing contract with Tencent after bowing to pressure from the Trump administration, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.

• US officials approached Oracle to raise concerns about the Tencent deal, the newspaper said, citing people familiar with the matter

• Tencent also received visits from top officials in Guangdong, where the group is based, who asked the compnay to support domestic Chinese chips, the report said

• Reuters could not immediately verify the report. Oracle, Tencent and the White House did not respond to Reuters requests for comment on the report

• The Financial Times reported last month that Tencent signed its largest overseas lease deal, worth an estimated $7 billion, with Oracle

• The deal would have given Tencent access to about 100,000 advanced AI chips that were not available in China due to curbs from Washington and Beijing, according to the report

• Tencent had agreed to a five-year lease across multiple Oracle data centers in Southeast Asia, according to the report

(Reporting by Shivani Tanna in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)