Baidu, China’s leading big tech company, said it expects rapid growth in artificial intelligence (AI) applications starting in 2025, leading to increased revenue. In a recent New Year’s address, Baidu CEO Robin Li Yanhong said, “Generative AI based on basic models is rapidly being applied to various industries and scenarios,” and “In 2025, this technology will continue to grow exponentially.”
|
▲[Korean Today] Baidu CEO Li Yanhong (Photo = Baidu) © Reporter Byun A-rong |
Baidu is one of the first companies in China to enter the AI field, and has invested heavily in AI research and development in recent years. In particular, Baidu’s generative AI model, ‘Ernie Bot’, has been continuously improving its performance since its development in 2019, and has achieved remarkable results, with its current monthly active users (MAU) reaching 667 million.
CEO Lee expressed his expectation that AI investment will begin to bear fruit this year, saying, “I hope that the seeds planted in 2023 and 2024 will take root, bloom, and bear fruit as market awareness and recognition grow in 2025.” He also emphasized that in order to be at the forefront of technological innovation, one must take on greater risks and the possibility of failure.
However, Baidu is struggling to expand its market share amid fierce competition. Erniebot currently has 16 million monthly users, lagging behind ByteDance’s Doobao, which has 60 million users. In addition, Baidu’s stock price, listed on the Nasdaq, fell 27% last year, closing at $84.31 on the last trading day of 2024.
Under these circumstances, Baidu plans to focus its investment on core businesses by growing sales in the AI cloud sector and reducing non-core business sectors. Management expects high sales growth and non-GAAP operating profit in the AI cloud sector in 2024, and expects related sales to increase to tens of billions of yuan through expanding AI applications.
CEO Li Yanhong expressed confidence, saying, “Baidu best represents the long-term growth of China’s AI market and is at the forefront of this new trend.” He also said, “AI technology has reached a critical point, and changes will inevitably occur in all areas of our daily lives,” and predicted that China’s AI market will experience explosive growth in demand.
Baidu’s strategy and outlook reflect the expectation that AI technology will penetrate deeply into various industries and provide new business models and revenue generation opportunities. However, it remains to be seen what Baidu will achieve amid fierce competition and market volatility.
© The Korean Today – All Rights Reserved