Baidu delivers better-than-expected financial results

Chinese tech heavyweight Baidu Inc delivered better-than-expected financial results for the July-September period on Tuesday, with their total revenue reaching 34.4 billion yuan ($4.72 billion), an increase of 6 percent year-on-year.

Its non-GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) net profit stood at 7.3 billion yuan in the third quarter for this year, surging 23 percent year-on-year.

Robin Li, co-founder and CEO of Baidu, said the company had launched the latest version of its artificial intelligence-powered large language model, Ernie 4.0, and leveraged the LLM to reinvent consumer-facing and enterprise-facing products, as well as its own operations.

Meanwhile, it has helped many cloud enterprises develop their own AI-native applications and solutions, Li added. Currently, Baidu's Ernie Bot has amassed 70 million users, covering 4,300 application scenarios.

"Our ongoing investments in AI have underpinned technological and product innovations," said Luo Rong, chief financial officer of Baidu, adding looking forward, Baidu will continue prioritizing investments in AI, especially in generative AI and foundation models.

In addition, Baidu said in a statement that the company appointed Xu Ran, CEO of Chinese e-commerce giant JD, as an independent director of the company's board, effective from Jan 1, 2024.