The publication of quarterly and annual results for Shenzhen-based Tencent comes after weeks of robust investor confidence in Chinese tech, and in AI in particular.

Net profits in the three months ending on December 31 totalled 51.3 billion yuan ($7.1 billion), up 90 percent year-on-year, according to a statement on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange website.

The statement also showed that Tencent's revenue in the period reached 172.4 billion yuan, a rise of 11 percent year-on-year that outpaced a Bloomberg forecast.

Tencent brought in revenue of 660.3 billion yuan for the whole year, increasing eight percent from 2023.

The firm also achieved net profits of 194.1 billion yuan last year, jumping 68 percent year-on-year.

The strong results filing comes after Tencent's stock price soared to its highest level in nearly four years as Chinese tech firms ride a wave of investor confidence.

Tencent and its sector peers have been funneling resources into the competitive field of AI in recent months, after January's release of a new intelligent chatbot by DeepSeek took the industry by storm.

"We have reorganised our AI teams to sharpen focus on both fast product innovation and deep model research," Wednesday's filing said.

It said Tencent has "increased our AI-related capital expenditures, and increased our R&D and marketing efforts for our AI-native products".