MONEY MASTER

 Key Takeaways Stock surge : Baidu shares jumped  16% in Hong Kong , adding  US$6.4b in market value , biggest gain since March 2022. Analyst upgrades : Arete flipped from  sell  to  buy ; Citi and Goldman also turned bullish on Baidu’s AI growth prospects. Chip & cloud catalysts : Mass production of Baidu’s Kunlun AI chips and new China Merchants Group partnership expected to boost revenue. AI model upgrade : New Ernie X1.1 shows “significant improvements,” even surpassing some DeepSeek benchmarks. Baidu Rides AI Hype Baidu’s shares surged on Wednesday as analysts highlighted the company’s  AI chip and cloud opportunities . The rally came after  Arete Research  upgraded Baidu from  sell  to  buy , reversing its lone bearish stance since May. Options Activity Jumps Investor enthusiasm spread to the derivatives market, with  170,000 contracts traded  — more than triple the 20-day average — showing bets on further u...

  Beijing’s Tech Push Gains Momentum China’s tech giants Alibaba Group and Baidu Inc have begun deploying their own internally designed chips to train artificial intelligence (AI) models, marking a strategic shift away from heavy reliance on Nvidia processors, according to a report by  The Information . Alibaba and Baidu’s In-House Efforts Alibaba : Has used its self-designed chips since early 2025 to train smaller-scale AI models. Baidu : Is testing its Kunlun P800 chip to train updated versions of its flagship Ernie AI model. Both companies are still deploying Nvidia’s hardware for their most advanced AI projects, but the gradual shift underscores the effort to reduce vulnerability to US export restrictions. Why It Matters The move comes amid escalating US curbs on the export of advanced AI semiconductors to China, which have disrupted access to Nvidia’s latest processors. In response, Beijing has stepped up pressure on domestic firms to accelerate adoption of homegrown tech...

Key Developments: Tencent’s Yuanbao AI chatbot surpasses DeepSeek  as the  most downloaded free iPhone app in China . AI race heats up  as  three of the top five most popular apps  in China are now AI chatbots. Tencent integrates DeepSeek’s R1 model  into multiple platforms, including  WeChat search and gaming AI assistants . Alibaba ramps up AI investment , committing  US$53 billion  to compete with Tencent and DeepSeek. Monetization remains unclear , as AI chatbots are currently free and widely available in  open-source models . Tencent’s Yuanbao AI Overtakes DeepSeek Tencent Holdings Ltd.  has officially overtaken  DeepSeek  in China's rapidly expanding AI chatbot market, with its  Yuanbao AI chatbot  now the  most downloaded iPhone app  in the country. Tencent’s  strategic AI integration —embedding  Hunyuan AI tech  and DeepSeek’s  R1 reasoning model  into multiple platforms...

On Thursday, Chinese search engine giant Baidu reported better-than-expected revenue for the second quarter, indicating some signs of recovery in the Chinese advertising market. The company's revenue reached 33.93 billion yuan (approximately US$4.67 billion or RM20.4 billion), surpassing analysts' average estimate of 33.55 billion yuan, according to LSEG data. Key Highlights: Revenue Performance : Baidu's revenue for the second quarter stood at 33.93 billion yuan, slightly above market expectations. This positive performance suggests some stabilization and recovery in the Chinese advertising market, which has been facing challenges in recent quarters. Online Marketing Business : Baidu's online marketing business, which remains the largest contributor to its revenue, saw a 2% decline, bringing in 19.2 billion yuan. Despite the decline, the overall revenue beat indicates resilience in other segments or improved performance in additional areas of the business. Market React...