(Yicai) Oct. 21 -- Third-quarter profit at iFlytek, a Chinese developer of artificial intelligence technologies, more than doubled thanks to the rapid uptake of its large language models.

Net profit soared 121 percent to CNY57 million (USD8 million) in the three months ended Sept. 30 from a year ago, the Hefei-based firm said in an earnings report released on Oct. 18. Operating revenue jumped 16 percent to CNY5.5 billion (USD780 million).

IFlytek maintains a healthy growth trajectory, the company said, adding that while increasing investment in the research and development of its Spark generative LLM, it turned a profit last quarter.

For the first nine months of this year, iFlytek fell into the red with a net loss of CNY344 million (USD48.4 million), while revenue rose 18 percent to CNY14.9 billion (USD2.1 billion). But it led the industry for the number and value of contracts won for projects related to its LLMs in the period, the firm noted.

IFlytek won contracts worth CNY216 million for 38 projects in the nine months, with August’s deals exceeding CNY150 million, ranking the company first in the industry.

Spark’s industrial ecosystem has also strengthened, gaining 1.78 million new developers and collaborating with more than 415,000 corporate clients. The app has been downloaded more than 190 million times on Android devices.

IFlytek is exiting some smaller businesses to pare losses while no longer needing significant investments in computing power for LLMs, Chairman Liu Qingfeng has said previously.

On Oct. 24, iFlytek will reportedly host its annual Global Developer Festival, when Spark will undergo another upgrade, with improvements in its mathematical, coding, and long-text capabilities expected.

Shares of iFlytek [SHE: 002230] ended 0.8 percent higher at CNY46.18 (USD6.49) each in Shenzhen today, after earlier jumping by as much as 2.6 percent.

Editor: Martin Kadiev