Google is secretly exploring ways to use Tencent as a proxy for Google Cloud in China, where the U.S. company doesn’t operate its own cloud-computing business, people familiar with the matter said.

If the project moves forward, corporate customers using Google Cloud’s software tools and services outside China—for tasks ranging from database management to analytics to cybersecurity—would more easily be able to use similar tools and services from Tencent in China, the people said. Tencent’s Chinese clients, meanwhile, could use Google Cloud when they go abroad. By working together to make their product lineups more similar and technically compatible, Google Cloud and Tencent Cloud could save time and money for customers who choose to use both platforms, the people said.