Baidu's Q1 profits exceed expectations, with generative AI steadily advancing.
On May 16th, Baidu (09888:HK; BIDU:NASDAQ) released its financial report for Q1 2024. The report shows that the total quarterly revenue was CNY 31.5 billion, with Baidu's core revenue at CNY 23.8 billion. At the same time, Baidu's net profit attributable to the company (Non-GAAP) was CNY 7.011 billion, a year-on-year increase of 22%, and the net profit attributable to Baidu's core (Non-GAAP) was CNY 6.628 billion, a year-on-year increase of 26%, both exceeding market expectations.
Public information shows that Baidu has recently launched several lightweight large language models, making the Wenxin large model series more efficient and affordable; and has launched three major development tools: AgentBuilder, AppBuilder, and ModelBuilder, to help developers and enterprises create intelligent agents, develop AI-native applications, and customize models, reducing barriers and improving efficiency. Thanks to the mutual promotion of Wenxin large model and PaddlePaddle, by mid-April, the number of developers in the PaddlePaddle community had reached 13 million.
The financial report shows that in March 2024, Baidu App's monthly active users reached 676 million, a year-on-year increase of 3%, with quarterly online marketing revenue of CNY 17 billion. Baidu is continuously advancing AI reconstruction of search, and intelligent agents built on the Wenxin intelligent agent platform AgentBuilder can be distributed within the Baidu search ecosystem to enrich the content ecosystem and improve customer efficiency.
In the field of autonomous driving, as of April 19th, the cumulative number of services provided by RoboTaxi exceeded 6 million times; approximately 826,000 rides were provided in the first quarter, a year-on-year increase of 25%. On May 15th, at the Baidu Apollo Day, Baidu Apollo released the world's *large model supporting L4-level autonomous driving, Apollo ADFM, and introduced the sixth generation of RoboTaxi, bringing a safer, more comfortable, greener, and lower-carbon mode of transportation.
In addition, Baidu released its annual ESG report on May 13th. In the ESG report, Robin Li said that Baidu adheres to ESG governance, practices the concept of sustainable development, and continues to release ESG reports every year, aiming to make ESG actions not only visible but also to accelerate progress, contributing to long-term sustainable development and the well-being of everyone.
As of press time, Baidu's Hong Kong stock is priced at HKD 111.8 per share, with a total market value of HKD 313.6 billion; the US stock is priced at USD 112.59 per share, with a total market value of USD 39.48 billion.