Tencent Holdings Ltd., China's largest Internet company by revenue, released strong first-quarter results on May 15 and posted high growth in app subscriber numbers.

Net income rose 37.1 percent to 4.04 billion yuan ($657.9 million) at the end of March this year compared to the same period in 2012, while it showed a 16.8 percent increase from 3.46 billion yuan ($562.9 million) at the end of last year, said the Shenzhen-based company.

Tencent is known for QQ, China's most popular instant messenger, and WeChat, a free instant messaging app for smartphones.

"We are integrating new services into Wechat to explore emerging business opportunities on the mobile Internet. In addition, we will continue investing in user acquisition activities for WeChat in international markets," the company said on May 15.