(Reuters) - Tencent reported a third-quarter revenue growth of 15% on Thursday, as China's largest social media and gaming company benefited from strong gaming demand and expanding AI-driven services.

The Shenzhen-based technology company posted revenue of 192.9 billion yuan ($27.08 billion) for the three months ended September 30. That compared with the 188.9 billion yuan average of analyst estimates compiled by LSEG.

Gaming revenue rose 15% to 42.8 billion yuan at home and 43% to 20.8 billion yuan overseas. That growth was driven by titles including "Honor of Kings" and "Peacekeeper Elite", as well as newer games such as "Delta Force".

Revenue from advertising rose 21% to 36.2 billion yuan, boosted by artificial intelligence that improved targeting capability.

Net profit climbed to 63.1 billion yuan, compared with a 57.3 billion yuan average analyst estimate, LSEG data showed.

Tencent has been increasing AI investment, alongside peers such as Alibaba as well as U.S. tech majors Microsoft and Google.

The company has said it expects AI-focused capital expenditure to reach the "low teens" as a percentage of revenue in 2025.

Third-quarter capex totalled 13 billion yuan versus 19.1 billion yuan in the previous quarter.

Tencent's AI investment comes amid escalating technology tensions between China and the U.S., with U.S. export restrictions making it difficult for Chinese companies to purchase advanced AI chips from foreign suppliers such as Nvidia.

Tencent has previously said its stockpiled AI chips should protect it from U.S. trade measures, and that alternative chips are available domestically.

Tencent has integrated AI across platforms this year. It has embedded startup DeepSeek's model into WeChat, its super-app used by over 1 billion people in China for messaging and payments.

The company has also launched Yuanbao, a ChatGPT-style chatbot that ranks among China's most popular AI assistants alongside ByteDance's Doubao.

Tencent is also developing proprietary AI capability. It unveiled text-to-image generator Hunyuan Image 3.0 in September and has introduced services that convert text and images into 3D visuals.

($1 = 7.1230 Chinese yuan renminbi)