Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings added more than 3,000 jobs in the third quarter, in a sign that the country's most valuable technology company is on a new growth trajectory after the industry was beset by downsizing in recent years.

The Shenzhen-based company had 108,823 employees by the end of September, up 3 per cent year on year, according to its quarterly earnings results.

The new jobs extend the payroll growth seen in the second quarter, when Tencent added 719 jobs from the previous quarter to reach 105,506 employees by the end of June.

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Until this year, Tencent's payroll had mostly been in decline after peaking in March 2022, when it had 116,213 employees.

The company then underwent a series of cost-cutting efforts throughout 2022 and 2023, when it conducted lay-offs and exited some noncore businesses amid a weakened macro environment in China and regulatory scrutiny from Beijing.

Tencent, China's dominant social media operator and video game publisher, was once known for "owning half the rivers and mountains" in China's internet industry because of its extensive investments.

It was eventually forced to scale back its portfolio after Beijing moved to clip the wings of Big Tech firms over what it called the "irrational expansion capital" in late 2020.

Tencent's current market cap of about US$480 billion is small compared with the US internet giants such as Microsoft (US$3.2 trillion), Amazon.com (US$2.3 trillion) and Google owner Alphabet (US$2.2 trillion).

Tencent launched an AI foundation model called Hunyuan during its Global Digital Ecosystem Summit in Shenzhen in September 2023. The AI race is now spurring new growth in the tech industry. Photo: Tencent alt=Tencent launched an AI foundation model called Hunyuan during its Global Digital Ecosystem Summit in Shenzhen in September 2023. The AI race is now spurring new growth in the tech industry. Photo: Tencent>

The company has since regained its growth momentum. It reported an 8 per cent rise in sales and a 47 per cent jump in net income for the September quarter, owing to the strong performance of its video game business, according to its earnings results released on Wednesday.

Tencent president Martin Lau Chi-ping struck a positive note regarding China's economy, noting the impact of government stimulus announced in September.