At the Goldman Sachs conference, Baidu disclosed that the number of Apollo autonomous vehicles in operation ranks "among the top two in the world," clearly leading domestically

Baidu's Chief Financial Officer He Junjie revealed at the Goldman Sachs 2025 Asia Leaders Conference that Baidu Apollo has become one of the top two players globally in fully autonomous driving commercial operations and maintains a clear leading position in the domestic market.

On September 5th, according to news from the Chasing Wind Trading Desk, Goldman Sachs' latest report published the minutes of the 2025 Asia Leaders Conference, showing that Baidu disclosed a 148% year-on-year growth in commercial travel orders for the second quarter, highlighting the company's leading advantage in the commercialization process of autonomous driving.

Baidu's management also disclosed the latest developments in cloud computing and AI business at the conference. Among them, the AI subscription service revenue in the enterprise cloud business maintained a rapid growth rate of 50% in the second quarter, with the proportion of AI inference demand continuously increasing. The company has established a differentiated competitive advantage in the market with its full-stack capabilities from chips to applications.

According to the meeting minutes, Baidu's management also stated that as of June 2025, Baidu holds a total of $32 billion in cash and cash equivalents, with net cash reaching $21.7 billion, providing strong valuation support relative to its market value of $33 billion.

Goldman Sachs believes that the strong cash reserves provide the company with significant downside protection, while the AI and autonomous driving businesses present structural growth opportunities, maintaining a buy rating on Baidu with a 12-month target price of $90 (Baidu's US ADR) / HKD 88 (Baidu's Hong Kong stock).

As of the time of publication, Baidu's Hong Kong stock rose 1.3% today, trading at HKD 97.25 per share, which is 10% higher than Goldman Sachs' predicted 12-month target price.

Autonomous Driving Business Achieves Global Leading Position

According to Goldman Sachs analysts Lincoln Kong and others disclosed in the meeting minutes, Baidu Apollo has entered the ranks of the top two participants globally in the scale of fully autonomous driving commercial operations, while establishing a clear leading advantage in the domestic market. This achievement is backed by Baidu's multiple advantages in technology and operations.

Baidu's Chief Financial Officer He Junjie stated that the company will focus on enhancing the passenger experience inside the vehicle in the future. Compared to competitors, Baidu has significant advantages in high-precision maps, cloud processing capabilities, and the Wenxin large model, which lay a solid foundation for the scaled operation of its autonomous driving business.

The operational cost advantage is also noteworthy. He Junjie emphasized at the meeting that compared to the U.S. market, the operating cost per kilometer for autonomous driving in China is much lower, and this cost structure advantage makes it easier for Baidu to achieve commercial breakeven.

Strong Growth Momentum in Cloud Computing and AI Business

In the enterprise cloud business, Baidu's AI-related subscription revenue has shown strong growth momentum. Goldman Sachs pointed out that the stability and growth potential of AI SaaS subscription revenue have become the new core of Baidu's cloud business.

According to Goldman Sachs' meeting minutes, this high-value, recurring revenue achieved a 50% year-on-year growth in the second quarter, with the proportion of AI inference demand continuously rising recently Baidu has achieved market differentiation through its full-stack capabilities from chips to applications, particularly excelling in the AI software field.

The monthly active users of Baidu Wenku have reached approximately 400 million, generating a larger revenue scale compared to other AI software products (such as WPS and Feishu), with stronger user stickiness.

The penetration rate of AI features in various Baidu applications continues to rise, with core products like Wenku and Baidu Cloud deepening AI integration, further consolidating the company's position in the AI software ecosystem.

Baidu's investment in the AI search field is beginning to show commercial results. Although the cost of AI-generated content is relatively high, this content helps improve the quality of Baidu's search results, narrowing the gap with competitors in terms of high-quality content.

Data from the second quarter shows that AI agents and digital human assistant features have contributed 13% of Baidu's advertising revenue. He Junjie stated that merchants are willing to pay higher fees for such value-added services because these services can provide a better quality experience