Tencent posts strong quarterly revenue as Chinese video gaming giant bets big on AI
Chinese technology giant
Tencent Holdings on Wednesday reported revenue of 180 billion yuan (US$25 billion), its largest quarterly income since listing in Hong Kong in 2004, driven by continued efforts in
artificial intelligence (AI) and
video gaming
Revenue grew 13 per cent in the first three months of the year, beating estimates of 10 per cent by analysts polled by Bloomberg.
Quarterly profit increased 14 per cent to 48 billion yuan, falling short of analysts' estimates of 51.7 billion yuan and growth of 23.4 per cent.
Tencent's shares closed up 3 per cent at HK$521 (US$67) on Wednesday, ahead of its latest financial disclosure.
'AI capabilities already contributed tangibly to our businesses, such as performance advertising and evergreen games. We also stepped up our spending on new AI opportunities, such as the Yuanbao application and AI in Weixin,' Tencent said in the filing, using the Chinese name for
WeChat . 'We expect these strategic AI investments will create value for users and society, and generate substantial incremental returns for us over the longer term.'
Revenue from the
fintech and business services segment, which includes cloud computing and AI, rose 5 per cent to 55 billion yuan in the March quarter.
Revenue from value-added services, including the company's flagship video-gaming and social network businesses, grew 17 per cent year on year to 92 billion yuan.
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