Founded in 2000, Baidu is a leading AI company with a strong internet foundation. As a leading Chinese company in search engine technology, a field in which only four countries worldwide possess core capabilities, Baidu handles billions of searches daily from more than 100 countries and regions and serves a billion internet users. It's also one of the world's primary gateways to Chinese-language information and services. Its mission is to "make the complicated world simpler through technology".
Over the past decade, Baidu has invested more than 190 billion yuan ($28.52 billion) in R&D and ranked first in China in both AI patent applications and grants for eight consecutive years. For the agent era, it has built a full-stack AI framework spanning Kunlun AI chips, the AI Cloud, ERNIE large language models and AI agents. This integrated system covers computing power, infrastructure, models and applications — providing a foundation for industrial transformation.
Full-stack AI infrastructure
Baidu has brought three generations of its self-developed Kunlun AI chips into mass production and was the first to deploy a 10,000-chip cluster using domestically developed AI chips. Its chips serve hundreds of leading customers across dozens of sectors — including internet services, telecommunications, energy and power, finance and intelligent driving.
Baidu AI Cloud provides AI infrastructure (AI Infra) and agent infrastructure (Agent Infra). According to IDC, it's ranked first in the industry with a 16.6 percent market share.
At the model level, Baidu pioneered ERNIE Bot, its independently developed large language model enhanced with industry-specific knowledge. Launched in May 2026, ERNIE 5.1 uses multi-dimensional elastic pre-training to deliver leading performance — at around six percent of the pre-training cost of comparable models.
AI applications, industrial deployment
Baidu has developed a broad portfolio of AI agents, including DuMate, a general-purpose AI agent; Baidu Yijing, a full-scenario multi-agent digital human platform; and Famou Agent, a self-evolving agent. These products help cut costs and improve efficiency in workplace collaboration, content creation, production scheduling, process optimization and logistics planning.
In autonomous driving, Baidu ranks first globally in the number of patent families related to high-level autonomous driving. As of August 2026, its autonomous ride-hailing platform Apollo Go had accumulated more than 350 million kilometers of autonomous driving, including over 240 million km of fully driverless operations. It operates in 28 cities worldwide and continues to expand into overseas markets, including the Middle East and Europe, helping bring Chinese autonomous driving technology to the global market.
In personal AI productivity, Baidu Wenku and Baidu Netdisk have nearly 300 million monthly active users combined. Kuku AI, a general-purpose AI agent developed through these platforms, has more than 40 million monthly active users worldwide for AI-powered productivity, ranking it first in its sector. Its overseas version is available in nearly 200 countries and regions.
Talent development, ecosystem building
Baidu uses technology to empower society. In 2020, the company pledged to train five million AI professionals over five years and reached that goal ahead of schedule in April 2024.
In April 2025, it announced a new five-year target of training 10 million AI professionals. It also launched the Xinghe Plan to train five million specialists in large language models — strengthening the talent base for China's intelligent economy and industrial development.
ESG, sustainable management
Baidu integrates green and low-carbon principles into its technology development and operations. In 2024, it was included in S&P Global's Sustainability Yearbook (China Edition) 2024. Its MSCI ESG rating rose to A, and it received a low-risk ESG rating from Sustainalytics. The company was also named to the Forbes China ESG 50 list and the Hang Seng ESG 50 Index — reflecting its work in corporate governance, green development and social responsibility.
In biodiversity conservation, Baidu works with the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) to protect endangered species through AI. The partnership has developed an automated system to identify images of products made from endangered wildlife, achieving 86 percent accuracy and covering 34 categories of endangered species and their products. The system helps identify online information related to the illegal wildlife trade.
The project also established an international cooperation mechanism spanning countries, industries and sectors. It brings together knowledge, practical experience and technical expertise from different countries and regions in an open, collaborative framework.
The initiative was selected as an outstanding case under the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU) AI for Good program — highlighting Baidu's use of technology to address global conservation challenges.
From core technology breakthroughs to industrial applications, wider access to AI, talent development and sustainability, Baidu uses innovation to address real economic and social needs. It continues to integrate AI with the real economy — and to contribute to the global digital economy and the development of an intelligent society.
