Silicon Investor - Baidu (BIDU)

[Ron] China's Baidu revenue falls as AI cloud growth fails to offset ad weakness Reu...

Ron — 2/26/2026 1:06:33 PM

China's Baidu revenue falls as AI cloud growth fails to offset ad weakness
Reuters) - China's largest search engine operator Baidu 9888.HK reported a 4% revenue drop for its December quarter on Thursday, as persistent weakness in its mainstay advertising business offset strong growth in its cloud business.

Baidu, like other tech giants in China, has invested heavily in building out its artificial intelligence capabilities, helping the tech firm capture enterprise demand as companies increasingly adopt AI to speed up operations and productivity.

However, the strength in its cloud business was not enough to cushion the blow from declines in its advertising unit - its primary revenue generator — which has struggled to rebound in a highly competitive ad market.

Weak consumer demand and a prolonged property-sector crisis have hobbled China's economy, denting advertiser spending.

U.S.-listed shares of Baidu BIDU.O fell more than 4% in early trading, even as the company rejigged its reporting segments to focus more on its AI-powered businesses and assuage investor concerns around ad market challenges.

Revenue from Baidu's core AI-powered business, which includes its cloud unit, AI applications and robotaxi division, exceeded 11 billion yuan ($1.61 billion) in the fourth quarter and accounted for 43% of the company's general business revenue.

AI has become the "new core of Baidu," said CEO Robin Li, adding that the company's cloud services were gaining increasing enterprise recognition while its AI apps, such as the Miaoda vibe-coding platform, have gained traction among users.

Baidu's finance chief Henry He said on a post-earnings call that the company would maintain its pace of AI investment, which has totalled more than 100 billion yuan over the past three years.

The company reported total revenue of 32.74 billion yuan for the fourth quarter, compared with analysts' estimate of 32.62 billion yuan, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Adjusted earnings per share was 10.62 yuan, compared with analysts' estimate of 9.25 yuan.

Earlier this month, Baidu announced a new $5 billion share repurchase program and its first-ever dividend policy, highlighting increased focus on shareholder returns. The company said on Thursday it expects to pay out its first dividend by the end of this year.

[Madharry] Bidu is one of my largest holdings I dont think it get enough credit for its aut...

Madharry — 1/15/2026 7:28:29 PM

Bidu is one of my largest holdings I dont think it get enough credit for its autonomous driving unit or for its investment in other Chinese tech companies.
according to Gemini Baidu Ventures has made 345 investments into different companies , and Baidu has made over 97 investments directly.

[Frank Sully] Baidu AI chips growth: China faces shortage, Kunlunxin leads the market m.econo...

Frank Sully — 1/3/2026 4:13:58 PM

Baidu AI chips growth: China faces shortage, Kunlunxin leads the market

m.economictimes.com

[Ron] Baidu Shares Jump on AI Chip Spinoff tradingview.com

Ron — 1/2/2026 6:07:34 PM

[Ron] China’s internet search leader Baidu Inc. is seeing a fresh wave of bullish cal...

Ron — 12/11/2025 8:07:34 PM

China’s internet search leader Baidu Inc. is seeing a fresh wave of bullish calls from analysts thanks to the possible listing
of its chip unit Kunlunxin.
The reversal of fortune mirrors that of Alphabet Inc., another online titan that had been lagging in the artificial intelligence race before suddenly making headlines with its semiconductor business. A higher profile in chips may also position Baidu to play a bigger role in the ongoing battle for AI supremacy between China and the US.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Macquarie Securities in the past week both called the potential Kunlunxin IPO a step toward “unlocking value” for Baidu.

archive.ph

[Ron] Baidu's Kunlunxin chip unit valued at close to $3 billion, eyes Hong Kong IPO, s...

Ron — 12/5/2025 5:56:45 PM

Baidu's Kunlunxin chip unit valued at close to $3 billion, eyes Hong Kong IPO, sources say
finance.yahoo.com

[Frank Sully] Baidu’s Technological Edge and Challenges Delving deeper into Baidu’s offerings...

Frank Sully — 12/1/2025 9:32:43 PM

Baidu’s Technological Edge and Challenges

Delving deeper into Baidu’s offerings, the Kunlun series chips stand out for their architecture optimized for AI tasks. Unlike Nvidia’s general-purpose GPUs, Kunlun chips are designed with specific accelerators for neural network operations, potentially offering better performance per watt in targeted scenarios. A report from Benzinga details Baidu’s unveiling of a five-year AI chip roadmap, positioning it as a challenger to both Huawei and Nvidia in China’s burgeoning market.

Integration with Baidu’s Ernie AI model ecosystem is a key differentiator. By bundling chips with software tools, Baidu enables seamless deployment for developers, mirroring Nvidia’s CUDA platform but tailored to Chinese needs. This approach has attracted partnerships, including with other tech firms seeking alternatives amid sanctions. Recent news from Reuters reveals Baidu’s launch of new AI processors and supercomputing products, aimed at providing low-cost, domestically controlled computing power.

webpronews.com

[Frank Sully] "Robotaxi has reached a tipping point" cnbc.com

Frank Sully — 11/20/2025 3:00:57 AM

[Ron] Baidu's third-quarter revenue falls 7% as ad slump offsets cloud growth reuters...

Ron — 11/19/2025 8:09:31 AM

Baidu's third-quarter revenue falls 7% as ad slump offsets cloud growth

reuters.com

Michael Burry Targets Baidu Next — Claims China's Search Giant Juiced Earnings With Aggressive Server Accounting

stocktwits.com

Burry also recently put the depreciation schedules of top U.S. AI hyperscalers — Meta, Alphabet, Oracle, Microsoft, and Amazon — under the microscope, arguing that they might be understating depreciation by using higher-than-realistic server lifecycles to boost future profits.

"Understating depreciation by extending useful life of assets artificially boosts earnings — one of the more common frauds of the modern era," he said in an X post last week. "Massively ramping capex through purchase of Nvidia chips/servers on a 2-3 yr product cycle should not result in the extension of useful lives of compute equipment."

[Ron] Baidu leads China Stock Market Rally- biggest surge in months gurufocus.com

Ron — 9/17/2025 5:45:53 PM

[Frank Sully] BIDU Baidu, Inc. $124.44 +9.62 (+8.38%) 2:11 PM 09/16/25 Nice move! No news I c...

Frank Sully — 9/16/2025 2:19:43 PM

BIDU Baidu, Inc.
$124.44 +9.62 (+8.38%)
2:11 PM 09/16/25

Nice move! No news I could find.

[Ron] Kunlunxin, a Chinese semiconductor firm majority-owned by Baidu (59%), announc...

Ron — 8/29/2025 3:14:10 PM

Kunlunxin, a Chinese semiconductor firm majority-owned by Baidu (59%), announced it had secured over 1 billion yuan ($139 million) in AI chip orders for China Mobile. The chips, compatible with Nvidia’s CUDA platform, will be supplied to top-tier vendors like H3C Technologies and ZTE, as China intensifies efforts to build domestic alternatives to Nvidia’s GPU dominance.

finance.yahoo.com

[Ron] Baidu Partners With Lyft To Deploy Robotaxis Across Europe Baidu will leverage L...

Ron — 8/4/2025 3:50:00 PM

Baidu Partners With Lyft To Deploy Robotaxis Across Europe
Baidu will leverage Lyft’s platform to deploy its robotaxis in the U.K. and Germany initially, starting in 2026.

nytimes.com

[Ron] Baidu, Uber Partner to Launch Robotaxis in Asia, Middle East 8:56 AM ET 7/15/25 ...

Ron — 7/15/2025 11:08:08 AM

Baidu, Uber Partner to Launch Robotaxis in Asia, Middle East
8:56 AM ET 7/15/25 | Dow Jones

By Connor Hart

Baidu and Uber are teaming up to deploy thousands of the Chinese company's autonomous vehicles across global markets on the ride-hailing app's platform.

The companies said Tuesday that the partnership will increase the supply of affordable and reliable ridesharing options by bringing Baidu's robotaxi unit onto Uber's network.

The first deployments are expected in Asia and the Middle East later this year.

Terms of the partnership weren't disclosed.

"We are committed to bringing the benefit of autonomous driving technology to more people in more markets, and this partnership with Uber represents a major milestone in deploying our technology on a global scale," Baidu Chief Executive Robin Li said.

The company's robotaxi unit, Apollo Go, has a fleet of over 1,000 fully driverless vehicles across 15 cities globally, including Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The unit is gaining momentum and accelerating its global expansion, having provided more than 11 million total rides to the public as of May, Baidu said.

"This partnership brings together two of the world's most iconic technology companies to help shape the future of mobility," Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said.

finance.yahoo.com

[Ron] China’s biggest public AI drop since DeepSeek, Baidu’s open source Ernie, is ab...

Ron — 6/30/2025 10:04:37 PM

China’s biggest public AI drop since DeepSeek,
Baidu’s open source Ernie, is about to hit the market
Chinese search giant Baidu has said it will make its Ernie generative AI large language model open source today, a threat to OpenAI, Anthropic and its own Chinese rival DeepSeek.

cnbc.com

[Frank Sully] Baidu Says Kunlun AI Chip Cluster Can Run Deep Seek Models m.economictimes.com

Frank Sully — 5/1/2025 5:15:15 PM

[Ron] China's Baidu Takes on DeepSeek With New AI Model msn.com China's Baidu launc...

Ron — 3/17/2025 12:09:53 PM

China's Baidu Takes on DeepSeek With New AI Model
msn.com

China's Baidu launches two new AI models as industry competition heats up
reuters.com

[Ron] (Reuters) - Baidu said on Tuesday it has bought JOYY's China live-streaming bu...

Ron — 2/25/2025 10:13:32 AM

(Reuters) - Baidu said on Tuesday it has bought JOYY's China live-streaming business for about $2.1 billion, reviving a deal that fell through a year ago, as the search giant doubles down on the fast-growing digital video market.
finance.yahoo.com

[Ron] Baidu earnings beat, but ad revenue lags, company adds DeepSeek to AI Toolbox ...

Ron — 2/18/2025 8:48:46 AM

Baidu earnings beat, but ad revenue lags, company adds DeepSeek to AI Toolbox

Chinese internet search giant Baidu’s revenue fell 2 per cent in the fourth quarter, as China’s sputtering economic growth weighed on advertising spending, even as artificial intelligence (AI) remained a bright spot despite fresh competition.
Beijing-based Baidu’s total revenue for the fourth quarter fell to 34.1 billion yuan (US$4.7 billion), the company reported on Tuesday. Revenue for the year declined 1 per cent to 133 billion yuan.
Net income for the December quarter reached 5.1 billion yuan, up 100 per cent year on year. Net income for the full year was 23.7 billion yuan, a 17 per cent increase over 2023.

Chinese technology giant Baidu is embracing DeepSeek’s artificial intelligence (AI) models by integrating it with its search engine, fast on the heels of Tencent Holdings, which recently adopted the start-up’s tech into Weixin, the country’s largest social media platform.
Baidu will fully connect both DeepSeek and its own Ernie large language models (LLMs) with its search engine to offer a “more diversified search experience”
The search giant will also add DeepSeek to its LLM platform for developers, Baidu said in a separate statement.

scmp.com

[Ron] Apple Expands AI Strategy in China, Partnering with Both Baidu and Alibaba finan...

Ron — 2/13/2025 10:40:23 AM

Apple Expands AI Strategy in China, Partnering with Both Baidu and Alibaba
finance.yahoo.com

Baidu’s shares jumped Thursday after the Chinese tech company announced that its AI chatbot, Ernie Bot, will be available for free starting April 1, citing advancements in technology and lower costs.
finance.yahoo.com

Earnings expected Tuesday.

[Ron] Baidu's cost-effective approach to EV Robotaxis is a big deal theverge.com

Ron — 11/23/2024 7:41:09 PM

[Ron] Baidu Inc. recorded its biggest revenue drop in more than two years after Chin...

Ron — 11/21/2024 1:02:35 PM

Baidu Inc. recorded its biggest revenue drop in more than two years after China’s economic malaise undermined its push into generative AI.

Revenue for the three months ended September slipped 3% to 33.6 billion yuan ($4.6 billion), in line with analysts’ projections. Net income came to 7.6 billion yuan. Its shares fell more than 3% in pre-market US trading.

The results reflect how the Chinese internet search leader’s AI-first growth strategy has delivered underwhelming returns so far. The company hopes its Ernie artificial intelligence model — now handling 1.5 billion daily queries — could become a game-changer for businesses like search and the cloud, but it will take time for monetization to fully kick in. Its Ernie Bot has fallen behind ByteDance Ltd.’s Doubao in China usage, while the core business is losing eyeballs to newer social platforms like Xiaohongshu and Douyin.

Baidu’s broader AI effort encompasses autonomous vehicles, an arena in which it’s regarded as a pioneer. On Thursday, Baidu said it has begun operating the latest generation of Apollo Go driverless taxis in several cities, taking the cheaper model beyond the testing stage. Fully driverless vehicles — those without safety personnel behind the wheel — now account for 70% of Baidu’s robotaxi rides across the country, it said.

Baidu is among the companies most vulnerable to China’s downturn, as its key advertisers span industries from automakers to real estate. Rivals Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. said they saw some improvement in the broader economy last week after posting mixed results, though neither offered a forecast for when a rebound might take hold.

“So far in Q4, we have not observed a notable improvement in advertisers’ spending patterns, and consumer spending remains subdued,” long-time CFO Luo Rong, who’s started a new role to head Baidu’s mobile ecosystem, told analysts on a call. “Having said that, we are particularly encouraged by the strength and timeliness of recent stimulus policies which continue to be rolled out.”

Despite a head-start in China’s AI frenzy, Baidu has struggled to hang on to leadership. Aside from no longer having the country’s most popular AI chatbot, the company faces an all-out price war among AI infrastructure providers to entice more developers and startups as customers. Even after generative AI products contributed a bigger 11% of cloud revenue for the third quarter, Baidu’s biggest growth engine slowed because of intensifying competition.

finance.yahoo.com

[Frank Sully] Baidu Releases New AI Offerings computerworld.com

Frank Sully — 11/12/2024 9:04:21 PM

[Ron] Baidu Readies AI Smart Glasses to Rival Meta’s Ray-Bans finance.yahoo.com

Ron — 11/8/2024 8:22:37 AM

[Ron] Baidu CEO warns AI is just an inevitable bubble — 99% of AI companies are at ris...

Ron — 10/24/2024 11:31:15 AM

Baidu CEO warns AI is just an inevitable bubble — 99% of AI companies are at risk of failing when the bubble bursts
tomshardware.com

[Ron] Baidu posts flat second-quarter revenue as sluggish economy slowed advertising s...

Ron — 8/22/2024 6:21:17 PM

Baidu posts flat second-quarter revenue as sluggish economy slowed advertising spending
The Chinese internet search giant’s second-quarter revenue reached US$4.7 billion, a slight 0.4 per cent dip from a year ago
Gains reported in AI and robotaxis but overall revenue was slightly down.

scmp.com

[Frank Sully] China's Robotaxi Surge news9live.com

Frank Sully — 8/16/2024 9:49:22 PM

[Julius Wong] Baidu climbs after Beijing proposes draft rules for robotaxis - report Jul. 10...

Julius Wong — 7/10/2024 9:08:33 AM

Baidu climbs after Beijing proposes draft rules for robotaxis - report

Jul. 10, 2024 5:25 AM ET
By: Ravikash Bakolia, SA News Editor

Kevin Frayer

Baidu's (NASDAQ: BIDU) stock jumped about 10% in Hong Kong on Wednesday after Beijing authorities said on Tuesday that they will support the introduction of robotaxis in ride hailing and car rental fleets in the city, Bloomberg News reported.

In China, Baidu's operates robotaxi Apollo Go, whose sixth generation was launched in Wuhan in May. The Chinese internet search giant saw its stock climb about 8% on Tuesday and was up about 2% premarket on Wednesday on Nasdaq.

According to the draft guidelines posted by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology, autonomous vehicles should have drivers or safety officers on board, or be able to intercept remotely, while robotaxis are working. It also noted that any traffic breaches should be subject to local laws and rules, the report added.

The draft is open to public opinion for feedback till July 29.

Baidu plans to roll out about 1,000 robotaxis in Wuhan this year, where it already has a number of self-driving vehicles operating. Apollo Go is nearing break-even and expected to achieve balance in the fourth quarter of 2024 and turn profitable by 2025.

Meanwhile, robotaxi fleets in some Chinese cities are already facing backlash. Hundreds of pilot cars in Wuhan operated by Apollo Go have ignited worries related to job losses among taxi drivers. In addition, there have also been complaints from local residents about traffic jams and one car was recently involved in a crash, which is now being probed by the authorities, according to the report.

Tesla ( TSLA) is also slated to launch its own robotaxi on Aug. 8. A fully autonomous car which was first touted to investors in 2019. However, it was not known if Tesla's automated cars will be regarded as "qualified operators" by Beijing once the regulations are finalized and if the cars are released in China, the report added.

[Ron] Baidu robotaxis draw complaints from human drivers as service gains popularity ...

Ron — 7/9/2024 11:06:07 PM

Baidu robotaxis draw complaints from human drivers as service gains popularity
Local taxi drivers are petitioning Wuhan’s transport authority to limit the use of Apollo Go in the city of over 13 million
scmp.com?

[Ron] A nice surge in BIDU today... volume, MACD and Stochastics... didn't see any par...

Ron — 7/9/2024 9:15:45 PM

A nice surge in BIDU today... volume, MACD and Stochastics... didn't see any particular news, but somebody
was buying big in the American market.

[Ron] Baidu Earnings: Baidu reported earnings of 19.91 Chinese yuan ($2.76) a share...

Ron — 5/16/2024 9:16:39 AM

Baidu Earnings:
Baidu reported earnings of 19.91 Chinese yuan ($2.76) a share on revenue of 31.5 billion yuan ($4.4 billion). Analysts surveyed by FactSet had expected the company to report earnings of 15.98 yuan a share on revenue of 31.3 billion yuan.

marketwatch.com

[Ron] Tough-Talking Baidu PR Chief is Out After Remarks finance.yahoo.com

Ron — 5/9/2024 11:52:59 AM

[Ron] Tesla to adopt Baidu Maps V20 smart navigation system in China autonews.gasgoo.c...

Ron — 4/29/2024 8:02:46 AM

Tesla to adopt Baidu Maps V20 smart navigation system in China
autonews.gasgoo.com

Tesla clears key China assisted-driving hurdle with Baidu deal
autonews.gasgoo.com

Baidu, Hyundai Motor partner on advanced intelligent connected vehicles
autonews.gasgoo.com

[Ron] Baidu’s loss-making autonomous-driving project Apollo will focus on generating...

Ron — 4/19/2024 9:04:53 PM

Baidu’s loss-making autonomous-driving project Apollo will focus on generating revenue and profits after a seven-year testing phase, as the Chinese internet search giant pivots to generative artificial intelligence (AI), according to an internal letter written by the unit chief.

scmp.com

[Ron] We'll see what happens with earnings on May 16th...

Ron — 4/17/2024 3:30:25 PM

[Madharry] i am sitting with large losses in both baba and baidu. thankfully I am still sol...

Madharry — 4/16/2024 12:53:48 PM

i am sitting with large losses in both baba and baidu. thankfully I am still solvent and can wait this out.

[Ron] Baidu says chatbot Ernie AI has amassed 200 million users reuters.com

Ron — 4/15/2024 11:05:50 PM

[Frank Sully] Alababa's Moonshot AI narrows gap with Baidu's Ernie Bot scmp.com

Frank Sully — 4/10/2024 9:54:39 PM

[Frank Sully] UBTECH and Baidu Robotics - 2 1/2 Minute Video HUMANOID Robotics merge with Bai...

Frank Sully — 4/6/2024 12:35:00 PM

UBTECH and Baidu Robotics - 2 1/2 Minute Video

HUMANOID Robotics merge with Baidu's ErnieBot.

youtu.be

[Ron] DJ Can Apple and A.I. Make Baidu Cool Again? -- WSJ | Dow Jones By Jack...

Ron — 3/31/2024 2:08:25 PM

DJ Can Apple and A.I. Make Baidu Cool Again? -- WSJ

| Dow Jones

By Jacky Wong

Apple has long been the epitome of tech-sector cool: sleek design, usability, and legions of devotees. Baidu, China's answer to Google, not so much -- it has been a growth laggard for years.

But the artificial intelligence boom might change that. The company has held exploratory talks with Apple over using its chatbot technology in China, on top of an existing cooperation with Samsung. And A.I. cloud revenue is starting to pad its top line.

While once seen as one of China's leading tech companies -- making up the so-called BATs along with Alibaba and Tencent -- Baidu dropped behind the other two in terms of growth and share price performance in the mid and late 2010s.

But as its peers stumble over regulatory and political roadblocks, Baidu may finally have found a way to outperform them. The frenzy kicked off by ChatGPT has spawned many clones in China and Baidu has long invested in AI, so it is only natural that it launched its own version called Ernie Bot last year.

And Ernie seems well placed to stay ahead of its competition. Samsung is already using Ernie to power some AI features in China for its newest Galaxy phone. Apple may also be eyeing the technology for its iPhones and Macs in China. The Journal reported last week that the companies have held preliminary talks on the subject. Apple itself has yet to confirm the talks and a Chinese state-owned paper on Tuesday said a deal hasn't, so far, been reached. Baidu declined to comment.

Needless to say, the fact that the likes of ChatGPT and Google's Gemini aren't allowed in China helps. But Apple's endorsement, if it materializes, would cement Ernie Bot's leading position in the country.

As is the case for other generative AI chatbots, Baidu faces the problem of finding the best way to make money from Ernie, especially given the high costs of training such models. The company says generative AI helps improve its search experience and drive advertising revenue.

A more immediate, quantifiable benefit comes from offering AI services to its cloud customers. Baidu made 656 million yuan, the equivalent of $91 million, in the fourth quarter from AI-related cloud revenue. That amount is still pretty small -- only 2% of Baidu's total revenue in the quarter -- but it is growing fast. Robin Li, Baidu's chief executive, expects AI-related revenue to grow to several billion yuan this year. One key factor is whether the company can attract more developers, particularly those focusing on AI, to move to Baidu's cloud services.

Baidu's stock has been trading cheaply by U.S. standards -- around 10 times next 12 months' forecast earnings. Its main advertising business faces strong competition from Alibaba, Tencent and fast-rising Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.

But its core business remains a cash cow. Baidu generated around $3 billion of free cash flow last year and is sitting on around $18 billion of net cash and short-term investments, equal to nearly half of its $37 billion market capitalization.

If Baidu continues to find new ways to make money out of its AI leadership, while keeping costs down, investors may finally begin to take a look again. That would be a dramatic reversal of fortune for Baidu, the onetime ugly duckling of Chinese Big Tech.

Write to Jacky Wong at jacky.wong@wsj.com

[Ron] Apple Held Talks With China’s Baidu Over AI for Its Devices iPhone maker may nee...

Ron — 3/22/2024 9:04:54 AM

Apple Held Talks With China’s Baidu Over AI for Its Devices
iPhone maker may need a partner in the country to navigate regulatory hurdles
archive.ph

[Frank Sully] Forget NVIDIA - 2 AI Stocks which are cheaper and are not in a Bubble - Meta & B...

Frank Sully — 3/5/2024 9:50:07 PM

Forget NVIDIA - 2 AI Stocks which are cheaper and are not in a Bubble - Meta & Baidu

fool.com

[Ron] Chinese tech giant Baidu ( BIDU) early Wednesday posted fourth-quarters result...

Ron — 2/28/2024 2:10:31 PM

Chinese tech giant Baidu ( BIDU) early Wednesday posted fourth-quarters results that topped estimates for earnings, with revenue just below consensus expectations. U.S.-listed Baidu stock was lower in today's trading.
Baidu, which operates China's top search engine, said average monthly active users for its app reached 667 million in December, up 3% from the same period last year.

investors.com

[Julius Wong] Baidu might be most 'underappreciated' player in AI Feb. 22, 2024 2:48 PM ET By...

Julius Wong — 2/22/2024 8:12:21 PM

Baidu might be most 'underappreciated' player in AI

Feb. 22, 2024 2:48 PM ET
By: Brandon Evans, SA News Editor

V2images/iStock Unreleased via Getty Images

Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU) might be "the most underappreciated name in AI," according to investment firm Citron Research.

"Despite being the clear leader in AI in China, their stock is trading at a historically low multiple," Citron Research posted on social network X, formerly known as Twitter. "The China slump WILL end."

Baidu inched up 3% to $110 during afternoon trading Thursday as artificial intelligence-linked stocks rose following blockbuster earnings by Nvidia ( NVDA).

Other investment firms are positive on Baidu, including Benchmark, which has a Buy rating and a $210 price target on the Chinese tech giant.

Generative AI is seen as a net-growth accelerator for Baidu and see the company well positioned to ride on the increasing demand on technology innovation to help enterprises improve productivity with efficiency gains, Benchmark analysts led by Fawne Jiang recently said.

Baidu is slated to report its fourth-quarter earnings prior to the start of trading on Feb. 26. Consensus expectations call for earnings per share of $2.51 on revenue of $4.88B.

[Ron] Baidu driverless taxis continue to spread in China. Beijing latest city where th...

Ron — 1/24/2024 10:36:17 PM

Baidu driverless taxis continue to spread in China. Beijing latest city where the automated EVs will go
electrek.co

Baidu announces release of Ernie 4.0 new more powerful AI
venturebeat.com

[Ron] Baidu denies report linking the company's Ernie AI to Chinese military research ...

Ron — 1/15/2024 6:34:16 PM

Baidu denies report linking the company's Ernie AI to Chinese military research

finance.yahoo.com

[Ron] China AI stocks drop in US market on speculation about Chinese military linking ...

Ron — 1/12/2024 4:28:29 PM

China AI stocks drop in US market on speculation about Chinese military linking up with large language AI programs: Baidu and iFlytek...
scmp.com

[Glenn Petersen] Baidu’s bet on AI could make or break China’s fallen tech group Issues with lea...

Glenn Petersen — 1/5/2024 5:37:31 AM

Baidu’s bet on AI could make or break China’s fallen tech group

Issues with leadership and strategic mis-steps raise doubts but generative AI gives hope for comeback

Ryan McMorrow in San Francisco, Nian Liu in Beijing and Qianer Liu and Eleanor Olcott in Hong Kong
Financial Times
January 4, 2023

Robin Li stepped up to podiums across China this autumn with a message to the country’s entrepreneurs, chief executives and officials: stop building large language models.

In a series of speeches, Baidu’s founder told potential rivals “there’s no point in competing” to build generative artificial intelligence technology that can spew out humanlike text, code and images in seconds.
He urged them to instead build apps for existing models, such as his company’s “Ernie”. With each speech, Li also ruefully counted greater numbers of homegrown rivals, from about 70 large models in September to 238 in November.

That surge in competition is, once again, threatening the Chinese search group’s ambitions in emerging tech. Over the past decade, Baidu has tried everything from ecommerce to building a mobile operating system, before subsequently retreating amid an onslaught of new entrants.

“It’s a do-or-die moment,” said one engineer on Baidu’s large language model team. “Whether Ernie succeeds or not, will play a decisive role in the company’s future.”

Baidu released its AI chatbot Ernie last year as China’s response to OpenAI’s ChatGPT © Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Reuters
---------------------------------

More than a dozen current and former Baidu employees who spoke with the Financial Times said issues with Li’s leadership and company culture had contributed to the group’s difficulty incubating new business lines over the past decade.

They praised Li’s devotion to advancing technology and his work ethic but said Baidu was plagued by a lack of product focus and high turnover especially among its most talented staff — problems that threaten its nascent efforts in generative AI. Some added that Li and his wife Melissa Ma’s joint presence at the company caused issues for subordinates.

The company declined to make Li or Ma available for an interview. In response to a request for comment on detailed points before publication, Baidu said “the article presents a heavily biased and factually inaccurate depiction of the company and its CEO”.

Baidu warned that it could not comment on the claims of those who declined to be named, as it was impossible to “verify their claims or identify any personal prejudices which may colour their accounts”.

The return of Ma

Baidu was once known as the “B” in BAT, beside Alibaba and Tencent in the acronym synonymous with Big Tech in China. But over the past decade revenues at its two rivals have surged, while Baidu’s sales have only nudged upwards.

About five years ago, Ma returned to help right the ship. Officially given the title of special assistant to her husband, her authority within the company soon exceeded that modest designation. Today she is involved in investments, talent management and recruiting, according to people close to the company.

Baidu’s SEC filings indicate Ma has received about $1.7mn annually on average in stock compensation since rejoining. She is also the second-largest shareholder by voting rights and has sold more than $500mn worth of shares since 2020, according to data provided by the Washington Service.

Baidu, without providing specifics, said details that the FT put to the company about Ma included “many errors of fact”. The company said she provided advisory services to Baidu’s HR department and was not involved in day-to-day operations nor among its core management.

“Suggesting Mdded.

Several staff sas Ma is an executive officer of Baidu, based on her share-based compensation, is mistaken,” the company aid the husband and wife relationship had, at times, complicated decision making. “It’s like there are two factions,” said one employee. “Sometimes they disagree with each other and are evenly matched.”

Melissa Ma was officially given the title of special assistant to her husband but her authority within the company has exceeded that modest designation © Fan Bowen/Imaginechina via Reuters
----------------------------------------------

Ma’s return also contributed to the exit of one of Baidu’s star hires, Lu Qi, an AI expert whom Li poached away from Microsoft in 2017 to run the company’s day-to-day operations as president and COO, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Lu “couldn’t figure out who to deal with, whether Robin or Melissa was the boss”, said one of the people. He left the company 16 months after joining. Baidu said Lu departed “to deal with a personal family matter”. Lu did not respond to a request for comment.

Since 2017 more than 20 executives of vice-president level or higher have cycled through the company, according to an FT review of public departures.

Baidu said it “believes in enabling every talented individual to reach their full potential”, and “it is this strong, empowering culture that has helped us retain so much of our core talent for extended periods”.

Switching focus

Faltering strategy has claimed many of Baidu’s business aims. A former mid-level manager attributed the frequent course corrections to Li’s preoccupation with technology rather than making money.

Ticking off several businesses that Baidu had tried, the manager noted: “When

saw we didn’t have a big advantage from tech, he decided it was just a business and lost interest.”
The company is now resetting ambitions for its intelligent driving unit, which faces regulatory headwinds and a crowded market.

Baidu in recent years has repeatedly trumpeted the launch of “fully driverless” robotaxis in cities including Beijing and Wuhan, but Chinese officials still largely require human drivers to remotely monitor every ride, undermining the economics of a self-driving taxi fleet.

Over the summer, when the FT visited the group’s autonomous driving centre in Beijing, remote safety monitors sat in arcade-like driving simulators ready to hit the brakes or take the steering wheel to override Baidu’s self-driving software.

The group’s plan for its own electric car also hit a speed bump in the autumn, when Baidu was forced to rename its first consumer vehicle and turn over control to partner Geely in order to obtain regulatory approval to begin production. Baidu hopes the car will spur interest in its self-driving software from other automakers.

With Li shifting his attention to large language models, lay-offs have begun to trim staff numbers and several auto executives exited. Li in November reassigned the unit’s longtime head Li Zhenyu to a rotational role as his assistant and chair of a “technology ethics committee”.

“Resources are being shifted to Ernie,” said one person close to the self-driving project. Two employees said that shift also included many of the driverless car team’s powerful Nvidia chips.

The long journey to Ernie

Li’s determination to build Baidu into an AI giant emerged at least a decade ago, when he led the group to bid for DNNresearch, the start-up founded by AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton. Hinton ultimately sold to Google.
Yet, despite both Baidu and Google spending a decade investing in AI, they were left flat-footed when Microsoft-backed OpenAI released ChatGPT in November 2022.

Robin Li, Baidu’s co-founder and chief executive, has been shifting his attention to large language models © Michael Zhang/AFP via Getty Images
-------------------------------

After its staff worked around the clock for weeks, the company released Ernie in March and tens of thousands joined a waiting list to test the country’s first generative AI chatbot. But Baidu was soon backpedalling, trying to explain why Ernie had generated an image of a “patriotic cat” cloaked in an American flag or cited US intelligence findings to claim Huawei products contained backdoors.

The problem stemmed from the reams of data Baidu’s team fed into Ernie’s models. Employees said a lot of the material was in English and from western open-source databases.
|
Some Baidu staff were concerned that the chatbot would inadvertently cross China’s redlines for permissible speech, especially after the country’s powerful cyber regulator released new rules demanding generated content “embody core socialist values” and stipulated that tech companies would be held responsible for the output.

Staff wrote to the regulator to lobby against holding tech groups responsible for AI content. One employee said Baidu was now using other internal models to check content generated by Ernie.

Since March, Baidu has released a series of upgrades, most recently unveiling Ernie 4.0, which Li claimed was comparable to OpenAI’s GPT-4.

But the local competition is now rapidly catching up, too. SuperCLUE, a benchmark set up by a group of AI experts evaluating foundational models that use Chinese, ranked Ernie 4.0 just a few points ahead of rival models from Tencent and Alibaba in November.

Li told investors in November that Baidu’s stash of powerful American AI chips provided a competitive moat and predicted that the difficulty obtaining semiconductors, data and talent would soon lead to consolidation in the industry.

“We believe there will only be a select few foundation models in the market and Baidu will certainly be one of them,” he said. He predicted “millions” of apps would eventually be built on top of Ernie, with outside groups paying each time their users run queries.

Baidu said it had “successfully” transitioned from being an information services company to becoming a leading AI company, adding: “Strategic shifts like these take courage, vision, and most importantly, time.”

Baidu’s bet on AI could make or break China’s fallen tech group (archive.ph)

[Sr K] Baidu Terminates $3.6B Deal to Buy JOYY’s China Live-Streaming Business As of t...

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P.R. Venkat
Jan. 1, 2024 6:44 pm ET

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The Baidu Inc. logo atop the company’s R&D Center in Shanghai, China. PHOTO: QILAI SHEN/BLOOMBERG NEWS
Baidu has called off a $3.6 billion deal to buy JOYY’s video-based entertainment live-streaming business in China.

As of the end of December, the closing conditions for the share purchase agreement had yet to be fully satisfied, Baidu said in a filing late Monday.

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