(Yicai) May 15 -- Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings said its profit rose 22 percent in the first quarter of the year, with strategic artificial intelligence investments and implementation across key business segments starting to yield tangible returns.

Net profit was CNY61.3 billion (USD8.5 billion) in the three months ended March 31, the Shenzhen-based company said in an earnings report yesterday. Revenue rose 13 percent to CNY180 billion (USD25.1 billion).

Tencent's profit jumped 18 percent to CNY69.3 billion based on non-international financial reporting standards, while its operating margin climbed to 39 percent from 37 percent, it added.

"During the first quarter of 2025, our high-quality revenue streams sustained their solid growth trajectory," said Ma Huateng, chairman and chief executive of Tencent. "AI capabilities already contributed tangibly to 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," Ma noted. The operating leverage from the firm's high-quality revenue streams will help absorb these additional investments, contributing to a healthy financial performance and creating value for users and society, he added.

Income from the value-added services and social network segments climbed 17 percent and 7 percent to CNY92.1 billion and CNY32.6 billion, respectively. Domestic games revenue jumped 24 percent to CNY42.9 billion, driven by Honour of Kings and new releases Dungeon & Fighter Mobile and Delta Force, while the international figure rose 23 percent to CNY16.6 billion, fueled by Brawl Stars and PUBG MOBILE.

Monthly active users of Tencent's main social media apps Weixin and its international version WeChat topped 1.4 billion.

Revenue from marketing services rose 20 percent to CNY31.9 billion, boosted by strong advertiser demand for Video Accounts, Mini Programs, and Weixin Search, platforms enhanced by AI upgrades leading to higher user engagement.

Income from financial technology and business services grew 5 percent to CNY54.9 billion, mainly thanks to higher revenue from wealth management, consumer loan services, cloud services, and e-commerce technology fees.

Tencent's AI initiatives have yielded results, with its cloud audio-video solutions maintaining their top ranking in China by revenue for the seventh consecutive year. Its proprietary AI model HunYuan has seen iterative upgrades, with variants achieving global leadership in key capability tests.

Tencent also became the leading Chinese tech company to integrate technology from DeepSeek, a cost-efficient domestic AI startup, into its core platforms.

Weixin Search has seen growth in usage and search volume, with monetization beginning last year, executives of Tencent said on an earnings conference call.

"We've resolved the big immediate challenges, and that is translating into both better engagement and monetization trends with our existing games and also to greater confidence in our pipeline of new games," noted James Mitchell, chief strategy officer of Tencent.

"With the right people running the games, then we get the right results," said Martin Lau, president of Tencent.

In addition, Tencent reiterated its commitment to repurchase at least HKD100 billion (USD12.8 billion) of its stock, with buyback plans ongoing regardless of share price fluctuations.

Shares of Tencent [HKG: 0700] fell 0.2 to HKD520 (USD66.59) as of 10.55 a.m. in Hong Kong today. Its over-the-counter stock [OTCM: TCEHY] closed 3.5 percent higher at USD67.88 yesterday.

Editor: Martin Kadiev