Google-Sea partners to develop AI tools to boost e-commerce, gaming industries

Google and Sea are collaborating for a joint venture to boost business in the gaming industry.

Alphabet Inc.'s Google and Southeast Asian technology conglomerate Sea Ltd. announced a new tie-up on Thursday, February 19, 2026, that will develop artificial intelligence tools for Sea's e-commerce and gaming products.

Under the newly signed strategic partnership, the two companies will jointly "explore the building of an AI agentic shopping prototype" on Sea's e-commerce platform Shopee, they said in a statement.

The move is part of the efforts by global tech firms to monetize their AI models by promoting capabilities beyond simply answering questions and executing a much wider range of tasks, from shopping on different apps to managing complex workflows.

Shopee was the most dominant e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia with a 52% market share in 2024, according to a report by consultancy Momentum Works.

China's Alibaba, whose Lazada e-commerce platform competes with Shopee in Southeast Asia, released a new AI model earlier this week that it described as being built "for the agentic AI era."

Google and Sea's gaming unit Garena will also use AI solutions to "transform" the productivity of game development, both companies said.

Additionally, the partnerships follow a 2024 tie-up between Shopee and Alphabet's YouTube in the Southeast Asian e-commerce market.