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  • You probably know Tencent as the company behind WeChat.

  • It's the messaging platform here in China that now claims more than one billion monthly active users.

  • Well, today we're going to go for a tour inside its brand new headquarters.

  • But first here's why you should know about this massive company that's coming on to the global tech scene.

  • Tencent is one of the world's largest internet companies,

  • up there with Amazon, Google, Facebook, Alibaba and JD.com.

  • It was recently ranked number five on the list of world's most valuable brands

  • and it's Asia's most valuable company - the first in Asia to cross the $500 billion valuation mark.

  • At the time, it even surpassed Facebook in market value.

  • This is the main lobby when you first walk in and it feels quite futuristic.

  • Think of Tencent as a giant conglomerate which spans social networks like WeChat and QQ,

  • which even has more monthly active users than Instagram.

  • It kind of feels like I'm in a science fiction movie. Everything is just super modern.

  • Tencent also offers mobile payments, gaming, news, cloud providers

  • and it's getting into artificial intelligence.

  • It's also invested in many other companies too, like Tesla and Snapchat.

  • Just like many Silicon Valley companies that provide employee shuttles for their workers, it's the same here.

  • The vans pull up directly into the basement of the building.

  • There's a custom app which was made for employees to use to quickly find parking spots

  • when they arrive, book meeting rooms and even see where their co-workers are.

  • There's three separate links, as they're called here at Tencent headquarters.

  • The first is the culture link, the second is the health link, that's where I am now, the third is the knowledge link.

  • This is the running track, you can actually run it and it'll connect you from one building to another.

  • As part of the health link, you also have this massive basketball court.

  • When I call for an elevator I can only go to the first floor,

  • but if I want to go to another floor, I'll have to do facial recognition right here.

  • But it doesn't recognize me so I'm pretty much just limited to the first floor.

  • The desks here are quite traditional. I don't see a lot of hot desking and laptops going on.

  • Lunch here is separated into different time intervals in an effort to maximize the space

  • but not make it too crowded at any given time.

  • So right now it's about 12:15pm, the cafeteria isn't too packed.

  • It's definitely starting to get a little bit more crowded.

  • This behind me is the south tower and then over here is the north tower.

  • The south tower was actually designed to be a little bit taller than the north tower

  • in an effort to block the sun so that the north tower is covered a little bit by shade.

  • Overall I'm told that this building uses about 40% less carbon consumption and emissions

  • than a building of comparable size.

  • This is one of the garden terraces that connects these two buildings, the views are great

  • but it's way too hot to be outside right now.

  • The building is so new that this swimming pool isn't even completed yet.

  • They're still doing construction as we speak.

  • On the top deck here you're going to have a lounge space and a juice bar.

  • Welcome to the knowledge link, this is the 35th floor, home of meeting rooms,

  • the library, Tencent University and meditation.

  • Hey guys. It's Uptin. Thanks for watching.

  • For more on the history of China's most valuable company,

  • check out our CNBC Explains, 'What is Tencent?' right here.

You probably know Tencent as the company behind WeChat.

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