Baidu shares (NASDAQ: BIDU) rose 1.22% Thursday after the Chinese search giant reported a revenue upbeat for the first quarter of 2024.
Baidu Records $4.3 Billion Q1 Revenue
The Beijing-based company recorded a revenue of 31.5 billion yuan ($4.3 billion) in Q1 ended March, which is slightly higher than the 31.4 billion yuan estimates. The net profit increased 110% in Q4 2024 to 5.4 billion yuan ($755 million), beating the 4 billion yuan estimates.
In the earnings report, Baidu’s CEO Robin Li attributed the quarterly upbeat to the company’s AI pursuits. Li said that their “AI technology stack continued to propel the growth of our AI Cloud revenue during the quarter.”
Also Read: Baidu Unveils ERNIE Bot, a Formidable Rival to ChatGPT
Baidu Bets on AI for Future Growth
“We are making our ERNIE family of models increasingly affordable and efficient. This should provide Baidu with even greater opportunities ahead.”
Robin Li.
The Ernie AI model is central to Baidu’s AI push. It was reportedly launched in March 2023 and has since garnered more than 200 million users.
Also Read: Baidu’s Ernie Bot Surpasses 100 Million Users in Under 6 Months
In October, the company launched a paid version of its AI model, which added another revenue stream to its purse.
Over the past years, the Chinese search engine mostly relied on paid search ads, which have been slow in the past months amid the economic meltdown in China, per Bloomberg.
Baidu Expects Its AI Model to Generate “Billions” in Revenue
In Q4 2023, Ernie added roughly 656 million yuan ($91.2 million) in revenue to Baidu, although it represents a tiny addition to the total revenue of $4.8 billion for that quarter. However, the firm believes Ernie will add “several billion yuan of additional sales” this year.
In the coming quarters, we will execute on what is needed to optimize our operational efficiency in support of our AI-enabled businesses and high-quality growth and maintain a healthy non-GAAP operating margin.
Rong Luo, Baidu’s CFO.
Cryptopolitan reporting by Ibiam Wayas.
