Chinese internet heavyweight Tencent Holdings Ltd posted an 11 percent rise in revenue within the first quarter, beating analyst expectations and showcasing a sound growth momentum amid the country's optimized COVID-prevention policies.

Tencent said on Wednesday that its revenue reached 149.98 billion yuan ($21.70 billion) for the three months ending March 31, topping the 146.29 billion yuan average forecast polled by Bloomberg.

Its net profit stood at 25.8 billion yuan, versus the 28.9 billion yuan projected.

Pony Ma, chairman and CEO of Tencent, said in a statement, "During the first quarter of 2023, we achieved solid revenue growth as our payment volumes benefitted from, and facilitated, domestic consumption recovery, our games revenue improved, and our advertising revenue sustained rapid growth."

"We are investing in our AI capabilities and cloud infrastructure to embrace the opportunities brought by foundation models, and expect AI to be a growth multiplier that enables us to better serve our users, customers, and society at large," Ma said.