(Bloomberg) -- Baidu Inc.’s revenue rose its most in more than a year, joining China’s largest internet companies in rediscovering growth after Beijing relaxed its grip on the private sector to try and jumpstart a faltering economy.

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Its shares rose about 4% in pre-market trading in New York. The company reported a larger-than-projected 15% jump in sales to 34.1 billion yuan ($4.7 billion) for the June quarter. Net income rose 43% to 5.2 billion yuan.

Like Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Tencent Holdings Ltd., China’s search leader is riding a recovery in advertising and consumer spending from the depths of the Covid Zero era in 2022. That’s despite increasing turbulence in the world’s No. 2 economy that emerged in past months, from stubbornly high unemployment to a property crisis. On Tuesday, video platform Kuaishou Technology reported its first net income on record after sales beat expectations.

Investors for now are focused on Baidu’s AI ambitions, since the Chinese company demonstrated its domestic leadership by unveiling a ChatGPT-rival called Ernie in March. Alibaba and Tencent have since joined a parade of startups in touting their own large language models to try and match OpenAI’s seminal creation, raising questions about whether Baidu can sustain its current lead.

Baidu founder Robin Li said the company awaits Beijing’s approval to roll out its answer to ChatGPT to the public, skirting questions about specific timing. The uncertainty reflects regulations that kicked in Aug. 15 requiring a security review before AI services can hit the market, part of sweeping rules intended to control content while allowing players to flourish and compete with US rivals.