Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU; HKEX: 9888) reported its Q3 2025 financial results on November 18, with total revenue reaching 31.2 billion yuan, down 7% year-over-year. The company posted a net loss of 11.2 billion yuan attributable to Baidu, compared with a net profit of 7.6 billion yuan in the same period last year. Non-GAAP net profit stood at 3.8 billion yuan, down from 5.9 billion yuan a year earlier.
During the earnings call, Baidu's management, including Chairman and CEO Robin Li, Mobile Ecosystem Group President Rong Luo, Intelligent Cloud Group President Dou Shen, and CFO Junjie He, addressed analyst questions regarding the company's AI strategy and business outlook.
**ERNIE 5.0 and AI Applications** Robin Li emphasized Baidu's application-driven approach to AI development. The recently launched ERNIE 5.0 model demonstrates leading capabilities in multimodal understanding, creative writing, and instruction following. The technology powers digital humans with enhanced conversational abilities and visual realism, as well as intelligent agents that improve operational efficiency across manufacturing, energy, finance, and transportation sectors. Li noted significant room for improvement in areas like e-commerce livestreaming and AI-generated content.
**Cloud Business Growth** Dou Shen highlighted that Baidu Cloud continues to outpace industry growth, with AI cloud infrastructure revenue reaching 4.2 billion yuan in Q3, up 33% year-over-year. The monthly recurring revenue for AI acceleration computing infrastructure surged 128% year-over-year. Shen attributed this growth to Baidu's full-stack AI capabilities and increasing enterprise demand for AI-native cloud services.
**Search Transformation** Rong Luo discussed Baidu's two core AI products: the ERNIE Assistant integrated into Baidu App, which has reached 12 million subscribers, and the standalone ERNIE Bot application focused on multimodal innovation. The company is testing new commercial models, including e-commerce components that achieved peak daily GMV of 6 million yuan during Double 11.
**Autonomous Driving Expansion** Robin Li revealed that Apollo Go, Baidu's autonomous ride-hailing service, has completed over 17 million orders globally. The service operates without safety drivers in China, where its order volume is 15 times that of its closest competitor. Baidu plans to expand internationally while improving unit economics, with some cities already achieving positive margins.
**Financial Outlook** CFO Junjie He disclosed that Baidu has invested over 100 billion yuan in AI since launching ERNIE. The company took a one-time impairment charge to optimize its infrastructure for advanced AI computing needs. While maintaining high capital expenditures, Baidu expects improving non-GAAP operating margins in 2026. The company has repurchased $2.3 billion in shares under its current program and is evaluating additional shareholder return mechanisms.
