Baidu CFO Predicts AI Profits Will Soon Match Search Business
Baidu Chief Financial Officer He Haijian announced that the company's AI business is expected to soon generate profits and cash returns comparable to its traditional search operation. AI-related revenues across cloud infrastructure and applications already account for more than half of Baidu's total revenue. The announcement highlights Baidu's shift from a traditional internet engine into a deep-tech enterprise, demonstrating that heavy investments in infrastructure are yielding financial returns. It reinforces investor confidence by proving that cloud and AI chip demands can sustainably fuel tech company growth. Baidu expects to recoup its investments in new GPU clusters within two to three years while maintaining capital expenditure below market expectations. Additionally, Baidu has recently finalized its dual-primary listing on both the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and Nasdaq.
## BACKGROUND
Baidu positions itself as having a full-stack AI architecture that spans self-developed chips, cloud infrastructure, foundation models, AI agents, and autonomous driving technology. Historically, investors evaluated Chinese internet platforms primarily as traditional value stocks based on price-to-earnings ratios rather than high-growth deep-tech firms. An AI agent is autonomous software capable of making decisions and executing tasks using contextual understanding.