Baidu, the Chinese internet and AI giant exceeded market expectations in the first quarter, reporting a revenue of CNY 31.1 billion, a 10% YoY increase, and a net profit of CNY 5.7 billion, marking a significant growth of 48%.

Baidu's core operating profit in Q1 saw substantial YoY growth of 45%, reaching CNY 5.36 billion. Baidu Intelligent Cloud, known for its AI infrastructure, achieved profitability this quarter with an 8% YoY revenue growth to CNY 4.2 billion.

Baidu attributed its achievements in the intelligent cloud market to its foundational models and full-stack AI architecture. Namely, the company has formed a collaboration with Changan Automobile, to build an AI infrastructure platform and a digital human platform.

Embracing the trend of AI transformation, Baidu unveiled the WENXIN Qianfan platform, an enterprise-level large model production platform, showcasing its capabilities in over 400 enterprise scenarios during internal testing. Additionally, the company, who was first to launch a ChatGPT-like product in China, is integrating its ERNIE Bot across its businesses, reshaping products and services. For example, Baidu Wench, a Google Doc-like product, is capable of generating  documents within 15 seconds when equipped with ERNIE Bot.

Baidu's mobile ecosystem also experienced growth, with core online marketing revenue reaching CNY 16.6 billion, a 6% YoY increase. The Baidu app garnered 657 million monthly active users in March, and e-commerce revenue surged with a 55% QoQ growth in quarterly GMV.

In the autonomous driving sector, LuoboKuaipao, a robotaxi platform owned by Baidu, recieved approximately 660,000 orders in Q1, reflecting a YoY growth of 236%. The service was granted permission to launch fully driverless operations in Beijing, making it the first fully driverless fleet in a capital city worldwide.