Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Southeast Asian tech conglomerate Sea Ltd. have announced a new strategic partnership to develop artificial intelligence tools across Sea’s e-commerce, gaming, and fintech businesses.
Under the agreement, the two companies will jointly explore the development of an AI agentic shopping prototype for Sea’s e-commerce platform, Shopee. The initiative aims to embed AI agents directly into the shopping experience, enabling users to move beyond search and discovery toward more automated, task-oriented commerce.
The collaboration reflects a broader push by global technology firms to monetize AI models by expanding their capabilities beyond conversational responses. Increasingly, companies are focusing on agentic AI systems that can execute multi-step tasks such as shopping across apps or managing complex digital workflows.
Shopee remains Southeast Asia’s leading e-commerce platform, holding a 52% market share in 2024, according to consultancy Momentum Works. The new AI partnership is expected to strengthen Shopee’s competitive position against regional rivals such as TikTok and Alibaba Group’s Lazada. Earlier this week, Alibaba unveiled a new AI model described as being built for the “agentic AI era,” underscoring intensifying competition in the region.
Beyond e-commerce, the partnership will also extend to Sea’s gaming arm, Garena. The companies plan to deploy AI solutions to enhance productivity in game development and operations. Google has previously collaborated with Garena, hosting its popular title Free Fire on Google Play.
Sea’s chairman and CEO, Forrest Li, said in a statement that AI represents a transformative opportunity for the group. “AI is the next big technology revolution, and we believe that it has huge potential to positively transform our business and create value in our markets. This partnership with Google on AI will drive innovation in the business application of the technology at scale, and allow us to make AI more accessible to the digitally underserved in our markets.”
The partnership will also support Sea’s fintech division, Monee, with plans to develop a more robust and secure payment infrastructure.
Sanjay Gupta, President of Google Asia Pacific, said, “By combining Google’s AI leadership with Sea’s innovative ecosystem, we’re building products that don’t just solve today’s challenges but define the future of gaming, commerce, and financial services.”
The latest agreement builds on an existing relationship between the two companies, including a 2024 collaboration between Shopee and YouTube in Southeast Asia’s e-commerce market.
