NextFin News -- Competition in AI Agents is shifting from point capabilities to ecosystem-level collaboration.

JD.com and Tencent have recently joined forces to cooperate around AI Agents. JD.com ’ s product supply chain and fulfillment service system will be connected with Tencent ’ s entry-point traffic and distribution resources, according to sources familiar with the matter.

At present, Tencent has been pushing forward several AI Agent initiatives recently. Its handset-manufacturer solutions involve Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO, vivo, and others; and its partnership with JD.com is a step in expanding real-world AI deployment scenarios. With WeChat ’ s monthly active users topping 1.3 billion, its AI transformation has drawn close market attention. By linking WeChat ’ s AI capabilities with system-level agents on smartphones, users can access services within the WeChat ecosystem via voice or system-level interactions — without opening a standalone app.

Separately, sources say Tencent is close to kicking off development and testing of a WeChat AI assistant. This is Tencent ’ s attempt at a consumer-facing AI application. Unlike standalone AI apps such as Yuanbao, a WeChat AI assistant would be embedded directly into social scenarios, giving it broader reach and stronger user stickiness. Yuanbao ’ s open collaborations in vertical domains also indicate that Tencent is exploring how to combine AI Agents with specialized services.

Meanwhile, leveraging AI Agents and its super supply-chain capabilities, JD.com has been steadily ramping up investment to build out a diversified portfolio of AI-powered shopping scenarios.

Unlike most internet companies that approach AI from the algorithm layer, JD.com ’ s AI Agent is built on JD.com ’ s product supply chain, end-to-end retail digitalization, and e-commerce fulfillment capabilities, supported at its core by JD.com ’ s in-house AI technologies and deeply integrated with multimodal technologies. It can provide users with quality lifestyle services such as product recommendations and ordering takeout. JD.com ’ s AI Agent has already been integrated with multiple major device makers, including Huawei, OPPO, and HONOR.

Agent-to-agent collaboration, users can submit shopping requests and obtain product information directly within JD.com ’ s AI Agent inside the native agents of various terminals, with JD.com ’ s fulfillment and service system taking over to deliver a complete closed-loop experience — from intent recognition to service assurance.

For JD.com, the value of an AI Agent lies in productizing and API-enabling its supply-chain capabilities. As e-commerce competition shifts from price to efficiency, plugging fulfillment capabilities into user scenarios at lower friction cost is one way to seize the initiative in a mature, incremental market.