China’s Baidu (9888.HK) surpassed analysts’ projections for first-quarter revenue on Thursday, fueled by a resurgence in advertising revenue and heightened demand for its AI-driven cloud offerings. As China’s leading search engine provider, the company reported revenue of 31.51 billion yuan ($4.37 billion) for the quarter ended March 31, exceeding analysts’ average estimate of 31.21 billion yuan according to LSEG data. Pre-market trading of the company’s U.S.-listed shares saw an increase of about 3%.
Baidu has recently intensified its focus on enhancing sales from its AI-related products and services. This strategic shift is part of a broader image rebranding effort, even as the company continues to rely heavily on advertising revenue.
“Despite stable online marketing revenue from Baidu Core, the ongoing optimization of our AI technology stack drove significant growth in our AI Cloud revenue during the quarter,” remarked co-founder and CEO Robin Li in an earnings release.
