Baidu released its financial results for the second quarter of 2026 on August 18.

The company reported total revenue of RMB 31.3 billion (USD 4.6 billion), down 4% year-on-year (YoY). Revenue from its general business was RMB 25.2 billion (USD 3.7 billion), with artificial intelligence powered businesses contributing RMB 12.5 billion (USD 1.8 billion), or 50% of the total. It was the second consecutive quarter in which AI accounted for at least half of general business revenue.

AI cloud infrastructure remained a key growth driver. Revenue from the business rose 50% YoY to RMB 7.3 billion (USD 1.1 billion), while GPU cloud revenue surged 283%, accelerating from 184% growth in the previous quarter.

Robin Li said that AI has now become Baidu’s main growth driver and that the company is building the foundation for its next stage of AI driven expansion. He noted that AI cloud infrastructure continued to deliver strong growth, with GPU cloud services accelerating further despite an already high base. He also said Baidu’s AI application portfolio kept improving, with enhanced capabilities and a widening range of use cases, while Apollo Go continued its steady international expansion alongside ongoing improvements in safety, operations, and user experience.

Li added that the sustained expansion of Baidu’s AI businesses further demonstrates its transition from an internet centric company to an AI first enterprise, and strengthens confidence in its long term growth outlook. According to Baidu’s results, its AI powered businesses grew 25% YoY in the quarter.

Two major US investment firms also initiated or increased positions in Baidu during the second quarter.

According to Form 13F filings, Duquesne Family Office, run by investor Stanley Druckenmiller, initiated a position of 88,000 Baidu American depositary receipts (ADRs) during the quarter. It marked Druckenmiller’s first return to US listed Chinese stocks since exiting Alibaba Group in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Meanwhile, Appaloosa LP, led by hedge fund manager David Tepper, increased its Baidu position by 602,900 shares while exiting two other US listed Chinese stocks.

Baidu also announced in July that it plans to voluntarily convert its Hong Kong listing to a dual primary listing. The Hong Kong Stock Exchange has acknowledged the application.

CFO Haijian He said during the earnings call that Baidu plans to hold an extraordinary general meeting on August 26 to seek shareholder approval for related matters. The company expects the conversion to take effect within the year, subject to shareholder and exchange approval.

Baidu also said it is preparing to become eligible for trading under the Southbound Stock Connect program after the conversion and hopes to be included as soon as possible once the process is complete.

GPU cloud growth accelerates

Baidu generated RMB 7.3 billion in AI cloud infrastructure revenue during the second quarter, up 50% year over year. GPU cloud revenue jumped 283%, accelerating from 184% growth in the previous quarter.

According to a report published by IDC, Baidu AI Cloud ranked first by market share in sectors including finance, gaming, and embodied intelligence.

Li also said on the earnings call that Kunlunxin maintained strong momentum during the quarter and continued expanding into more industries as demand grew. He said market recognition of Kunlunxin’s stability, efficiency, and adaptability in large scale deployments was increasing.

Kunlunxin also improved inference throughput and overall computing efficiency while expanding its ability to support a wider range of AI workloads at scale.

Building on its support for Ernie and other mainstream Chinese foundation models, Kunlunxin expanded support during the second quarter to updated models including Kimi K3, GLM 5.2, MiniMax M3, and Tencent’s Hy3.

Kunlunxin has completed R&D and commercialization of three generations of AI chips. It plans to continue expanding its product roadmap, including the M100, optimized for large scale inference, and the M300, which is scheduled for a future release.

AI applications expand

Baidu’s AI applications generated RMB 2.5 billion (USD 370 million) in revenue during the second quarter, up 3% YoY.

In August, Baidu further integrated its AI productivity product line around products including DuMate, GenFlow, and Miaoda.

According to AICPB rankings, DuMate’s monthly active users increased 1,063.79% month over month in July, giving it the highest growth rate among the products tracked. GenFlow had more than 25 million monthly active users, leading the AI productivity segment.

Miaoda released version 3.5 in July with upgrades across six major capabilities. According to Frost & Sullivan, Miaoda ranked first in the sector with a 33.4% market share.

Baidu Famou, a self evolving agent, has received trial applications from 3,000 companies since its launch, according to the company.

Baidu generated RMB 2.6 billion (USD 384.8 million) in revenue from AI native marketing services during the second quarter, roughly flat from a year earlier. The Baidu app had 644 million monthly active users in June.

In July, Baidu Yijing launched a digital human video podcast solution. Frost & Sullivan ranked Yijing first in China’s AI digital human market by both market share and overall product strength in 2025, after IDC ranked Baidu first by market share in 2024.

This article was adapted based on a feature originally written by Stone Jin and published on IPO Zaozhidao. KrASIA is authorized to translate, adapt, and publish its contents.

Note: RMB figures are converted to USD at rates of RMB 6.76 = USD 1 based on estimates as of August 19, 2026, unless otherwise stated. USD conversions are presented for ease of reference and may not fully match prevailing exchange rates.