Chinese technology powerhouses are beginning to reap early returns from their heavy investments in artificial intelligence, with quarterly results showing the impact across businesses from short video platforms like Kuaishou Technology to social media giants like Tencent Holdings.
Kuaishou, China’s second-largest short video app and rival to TikTok’s Chinese sibling Douyin, was the latest to highlight gains from AI adoption. The company, in an earnings statement on Wednesday, attributed its third-quarter revenue growth to the use of AI technology to upgrade marketing solutions and its Kling video tool.
Online marketing services sales grew 14 per cent to 20.1 billion yuan (US$2.81 billion), while sales for other services jumped 41.3 per cent to 5.9 billion yuan in the three months ended September.
Kuaishou co-founder and CEO Cheng Yixiao said in the earnings statement that “AI capabilities deeply embedded across business scenarios” helped it deliver a robust quarter.
Tencent, the Chinese social media and video gaming powerhouse, posted a 19 per cent jump in third-quarter profit on AI-related gains, it said last week. Pony Ma Huateng, founder, chairman and CEO of Tencent, said areas from ad targeting to game engagement to producing code, games and videos benefited from strategic investments in AI.
AI also emerged as the rare bright spot for Baidu, which posted an underwhelming quarter on Tuesday. The search engine company saw a 50 per cent increase in AI-related revenue across its cloud, application and marketing businesses in the third quarter, contrasting with a 7 per cent decline in overall revenue during the period.
