Tencent Surpasses 35 Trillion Won in Q2 Revenue on AI Boom

Third Consecutive Quarter of Rapid Growth

Following the success of the startup DeepSeek, interest in China’s artificial intelligence (AI) industry has surged. Riding this wave, Chinese big tech company Tencent reported a 15% year-on-year increase in second-quarter revenue, driven by strong performance in both AI and gaming. This marks the third consecutive quarter of double-digit growth.

According to Bloomberg and other sources on August 13 (local time), Tencent, which is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, posted second-quarter revenue of 184.5 billion yuan (approximately 35.4 trillion won). This figure exceeded market expectations of 178.5 billion yuan (34.3 trillion won) by 3.3%. Net profit rose 17% to 55.6 billion yuan (about 10.6 trillion won), also surpassing the forecast of 52.3 billion yuan.

Tencent logo. Reuters·Yonhap News

The main drivers of this growth were gaming and AI. Domestic gaming revenue in China increased 17% year-on-year to 40.4 billion yuan (about 7.7 trillion won), while overseas gaming revenue jumped 35% to 18.8 billion yuan (approximately 3.6 trillion won). Marketing service revenue, boosted by the expansion of AI-powered personalized advertising, also rose 20% to 35.8 billion yuan (about 6.8 trillion won).

Tencent has ramped up its AI investments over the past two years. In February, the company launched the Turbo S version of its proprietary large language model (LLM), Hunyuan. Tencent has also integrated external AI models, including those from startups like DeepSeek, into its services such as WeChat.

A Tencent spokesperson stated, "Both revenue and operating profit achieved double-digit growth rates compared to the same period last year. We invested in AI utilization and benefited from it," adding that the company has expanded AI features across services like WeChat and gaming.