On February 26, Baidu released its financial report for the fourth quarter and the full year of 2025. This report, regarded as a ‘barometer’ to observe the effectiveness of China’s AI industry, provided answers that exceeded market expectations. The data showed that Baidu’s total revenue for 2025 reached 129.1 billion yuan, with AI business contributing 40 billion yuan. A more critical signal came from the fourth quarter: Baidu’s total revenue was 32.7 billion yuan, and the proportion of AI business revenue to general business income was as high as 43%. This figure not only exceeded the market’s previous predictions but also marked Baidu’s AI strategy officially entering the ‘harvest period’ from the ‘investment period’.
The year 2025 was pivotal for AI to become Baidu’s new core. When a technology giant’s AI business income accounts for nearly half of the total, it is no longer just a fluctuation in financial numbers but a fundamental restructuring of the business model. This means that AI is transforming from a traditional ‘cost center’ to a ‘profit center’, and Baidu’s full-stack AI capabilities driving a ‘technology-business’ closed loop have been proven. The market’s assessment dimension has shifted from the ‘thickness’ of technical reserves to the ‘strength’ of commercial realization.
Behind the 43% share: AI changes from ‘cost item’ to ‘growth pole’
The most valuable data in the financial report is the 43% revenue share of AI business in the fourth quarter. In the traditional narrative of technology stocks, AI often means high research and development investment and a long return cycle, a typical ‘cost item’. However, the data disclosed by Baidu this time indicates that not only are AI-related businesses growing substantially, but they have also become an essential pillar of the group.
This transformation is not accidental but stems from the commercialization of full-stack capabilities. In the B-end market, Baidu’s intelligent cloud business income for 2025 increased by 34% year-over-year, showing strong growth resilience. Especially in the field of AI high-performance computing facilities, the subscription revenue in the fourth quarter increased by as much as 143% year-over-year, further accelerating from 128% in the third quarter. This is backed by Baidu’s intelligent cloud’s hard strength of achieving ‘double first’ in the number and amount of bidding projects for two consecutive years. By packaging models, tool chains, and deployment capabilities through the Qianfan platform, Baidu has reduced the threshold for enterprises to use AI, turning technology into a sellable service.
In addition, the growth of AI-native marketing services is equally eye-catching, with a year-on-year increase of 301% in 2025. As intelligent entities, digital humans, and other AI-native services become the standard ‘AI sales team’ for companies, Baidu is actually using a single technology investment to drive revenue growth in multiple scenarios. The acquisition of this high-quality income proves the clarity and formation of Baidu’s AI strategy: it is no longer about spending money for scale, but realizing commercial value by solving actual pain points.
Three horses drive: B-end, C-end, and physical AI bloom together
If 43% is seen as the result, then supporting this result is Baidu’s three-pronged approach in B-end, C-end, and Luobo Kuaibao. These three business lines do not exist in isolation but are based on the same AI underlying capabilities for cross-scenario reuse, forming a powerful synergy.
In the C-end application level, AI application revenue exceeded 10 billion yuan in 2025. Behind this data is that users are willing to pay for real AI productivity. As of December 2025, the monthly active user count of Wenxin Assistant reached 202 million, and since the launch of the Spring Festival red envelope activity, its monthly active users have increased by four times year-over-year. Users are no longer just trying new things but are frequently using core features such as raw graphics and raw videos. At the same time, Baidu Wenku and online storage are integrated into a personal super intelligent business group, with GenFlow 3.0 having more than 20 million active users, and the core value lies in ‘replacing repetitive labor with AI’. The Miaoda platform makes the ‘one-person company’ possible, with more than 500,000 commercial applications generated, reducing development thresholds to ‘being able to speak to make AI applications’.
In the field of physical AI, Luobo Kuaibao provides the most direct verification. In the fourth quarter, the global number of unmanned travel services reached 3.4 million, with a year-on-year increase of more than 200%, and the peak weekly travel times in the quarter exceeded 300,000. As of February 2026, the cumulative number of global travel services provided exceeded 20 million, with footprints covering 26 cities worldwide. From the fully unmanned commercial operations in Abu Dhabi to the testing services in London, and then to the full unmanned testing permit in Dubai, Luobo Kuaibao is opening up a new growth space. The total autonomous driving mileage has exceeded 300 million kilometers, of which fully unmanned driving mileage exceeds 190 million kilometers, and these data constitute the deepest moat of Baidu in the physical world.
From business realization to capital feedback: Baidu is completing a value loop
As the business outlook continues to improve, the capital market has also responded with real money. Baidu announced a share repurchase plan of 5 billion US dollars, equivalent to 10% of its current market value. This ratio far exceeds the usual 2%-4% repurchase level of technology giants with strong cash flow such as Apple and Google. This unconventional move is essentially conveying a strong signal to the market that ‘the company is undervalued’, implying that the current stock price still has room for repair.
More importantly, Baidu will distribute dividends for the first time in 2026. Referring to the historical experience of Apple and Microsoft, stable dividends often become a key point for long-term value support and market value leap. This combination of ‘repurchase + dividend’ returns indicates that Baidu is confident in earning more money with AI in the future and is willing to share growth dividends with shareholders.
At the same time, the value release of underlying assets is also accelerating. In January 2026, Kunlun Core submitted a mainboard listing application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. This move will allow the market to evaluate Baidu not only with PE but also switch to a segmented valuation method. The recognition of the capital market has subsequently increased, with nearly 20 institutions including Citigroup and JPMorgan immediately raising Baidu’s target price, among which JPMorgan raised the US stock target price to 200 US dollars. Institutions generally believe that Baidu is one of the most potential targets for exceeding expectations in the 2026 fiscal year.
From financial data to capital moves, Baidu is completing a loop from technological belief to commercial realization. When AI revenue accounts for more than 43%, and when repurchase and dividends are launched simultaneously, Baidu proves not only its survival ability in the AI era but also shows the explosive power of ‘veterans’ in the new technology cycle. For investors, this may be the best window to re-examine Baidu’s value.
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