Tencent Holdings' (HKG:0700) first-quarter profit grew amid the growing popularity of its games and the ongoing expansion of the artificial intelligence space.
The profit attributable to equity holders rose 21% to 58.1 billion yuan from 47.8 billion yuan a year earlier, with earnings per share growing year on year to 6.30 yuan from 5.13 yuan, according to the company's earnings report published Wednesday.
The current EPS missed Visible Alpha estimates of 7.31 yuan.
Revenue increased 9% to 196.5 billion yuan from 180 billion yuan in the previous year. However, it did not meet the 199.5 billion yuan predicted by VA analysts.
Tencent attributed its revenue growth to the increase in its domestic games revenue, which climbed 6% year on year to 45.4 billion yuan. The drivers of domestic game revenue are the company's existing games, such as Honour of Kings and Peacekeeper Elite, and more recent releases, such as Delta Force.
Meanwhile, international games rose 13% year on year to 18.8 billion yuan due to the popularity of Clash Royale, Wuthering Waves, and VALORANT PC.
The gaming giant's revenue boost amid the popularity of artificial intelligence.
"We started 2026 by making significant initial progress on our new AI products, as well as continuing to utilize AI to grow our existing core businesses," Tencent Chairman Ma Huateng said.
The company developed AI models, the Hy3 preview large language model and WorkBuddy. Huateng said the WorkBuddy is China's most widely used productivity AI agent service.
Tencent also said its commercial payment volume rose at a faster yearly rate in Q1, compared with the preceding quarter, due to the growing number of transactions and higher value per transaction in services, such as retail and dining.
No interim dividend was declared for the period.
Tencent's share closed 1% higher.
