Tencent becomes a Linux Foundation platinum member to increase its focus on open source

Tencent, the $500-billion Chinese internet giant, is increasing its focus on open source after it became a platinum member of the Linux Foundation.

The company has long been associated with the foundation and Linux generally, it is a founding member of the Linux Foundation’s deep learning program that launched earlier this year, and now as a platinum member (the highest tier) it will take a board of directors seat and work more closely with the organization. That works two ways, with Tencent pledging to offer “further support and resources” to foundation projects and communities, while the Chinese firm itself will also tap into the foundation’s expertise and experience.

Along those lines, the company said it will contribute its open source microservices project called TARS and an open source name service project (Tseer) to The Linux Foundation. It added that an open source AI project — Angel — will be contributed to the deep learning foundation.

“We are honored to be a Platinum member of The Linux Foundation. Open source is core Tencent’s technical strategy,” Liu Xin, general manager of Tencent’s Mobile Internet Group said in a statement.

Other platinum members include Cisco, Huawei, Microsoft, AT&T, Samsung and IBM.

Earlier this year, Tencent joined another open source industry body — the Open Compute Project (OCP) community — as part of a push for open source in the hardware space.

Tencent’s chief rival Alibaba also maintains a large presence in the open source community.

Alibaba is a gold member since last year, but more than that it has invested resources into projects directly as part of a push for its cloud computing service Alicloud. The Chinese firm led a $27 million investment in MariaDB, which became its first cloud investment outside of China. At home, its Alicloud-focused deals have included investments in cloud storage provider Qiniu and big data firm Dt Dream.

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