Miranda Zhuang

Miranda Zhuang asked about the intensifying consumer-facing AI competition, particularly during the Chinese New Year, Baidu's AI-to-C product differentiation (e.g., Ernie Assistant), positioning in the market, and the path to monetization.

Answer

Julius Luo, Executive Vice President of Baidu, acknowledged the highly competitive AI-to-C market but emphasized Baidu's strategy of enhancing existing products based on user needs. He highlighted Ernie Assistant's role in the Baidu App, strengthening service capabilities from information syncing to task completion, with improved accuracy via RAG and multilingual AI search API. Luo noted Ernie Assistant's MAU surpassed 200 million in December and the integration of nearly 100 MCP service capabilities. He described the standalone Ernie Bot app as a platform for innovation and a measured approach to monetization, prioritizing product excellence.

Miranda Zhuang from Bank of America Securities asked about the intensifying competition in the consumer-facing AI market, Baidu's AI-to-C product differentiation (e.g., Ernie Assistant), positioning, and the path to monetization.

Answer

Baidu EVP Julius Luo acknowledged the highly competitive AI-to-C market, emphasizing a strategy grounded in user needs and continuous product enhancement. He detailed Ernie Assistant's role in Baidu App, strengthening service capabilities from information syncing (improved accuracy, RAG, multilingual AI search API) to task completion (integrating nearly 100 MCP agents in healthcare, travel, education, e-commerce). Luo noted Ernie Assistant's MAU surpassed 200 million in December and strong GMV growth in e-commerce MCP. He described the standalone Ernie Bot app as a platform for innovation, focusing on multimodal AI and workplace productivity, and stated that monetization would follow naturally as products mature.

Miranda Zhuang sought an update on Apollo Go's goals for next year and beyond, including global expansion plans, unit economics across different markets, and management's view on the long-term profitability potential of the robotaxi business.

Answer

CEO Robin Li detailed Apollo Go's status as one of the world's largest robotaxi providers with over 17 million cumulative fully driverless rides, dominating the China market. He noted the business has reached a 'tipping point' with increasing public acceptance and regulatory loosening. For 2026 and beyond, Li outlined plans for rapid scaling in ride volumes, geographic expansion (currently 22 cities globally), and adoption of asset-light business models, aiming for more cities to achieve positive unit economics in 2026 and long-term profitability.

Miranda Zhuang requested an update on Apollo Go's goals for 2026 and beyond, including global expansion plans, unit economics across different markets, and the long-term profitability potential of the robotaxi business.

Answer

CEO Robin Li highlighted Apollo Go's position as one of the world's largest robotaxi providers, with over 17 million cumulative rides as of November and a 15x higher ride volume than its nearest domestic peer in Q1-Q3 2025. He outlined 2026+ goals: rapid growth in ride volumes and geographic expansion (more cars, more cities, more fully driverless mileage), continuous technology improvement through data, and driving down cost per mile to achieve positive unit economics in more cities. Li noted Apollo Go's global footprint expanded to 22 cities by October, expressing confidence in its continued global expansion and long-term profitability.

Miranda Zhuang of Bank of America Merrill Lynch questioned the sustainability of AI-driven cloud demand amid economic softness and asked about the GPU supply situation, including any improvements from eased restrictions.

Answer

EVP Dou Shen confirmed that AI cloud demand remains strong and is broadening from tech to traditional industries. He attributed this to Baidu's cost-effective, full-stack solutions. Regarding GPUs, Shen stated the focus is on a flexible architecture that maximizes utilization across various chips, including domestic ones, to ensure resilience against supply constraints.

Miranda Zhuang from Bank of America Securities asked for an analysis of the drivers behind the strong advertising business performance in Q2, the outlook for the second half of the year, and upcoming new products or technologies.

Answer

Management, translated by Juliet Yang, explained that the 20% YoY ad revenue growth was driven by their 'one horizontal and vertical' strategy, enhanced ad infrastructure, and improved efficiency from LLM integration. Key factors included integrated seeding and conversion campaigns, better ad delivery via multi-modal models, and optimized deep conversion capabilities. For H2, the focus is on broader product application across endpoints like PC and OTT, and deeper AI integration for ad creation and automated placement, with confidence in sustaining above-industry growth.

Miranda Zhuang from Bank of America Merrill Lynch inquired about NetEase's marketing and operational strategies for both new and legacy games, asking for any notable changes and the outlook for sales and marketing expenses.

Answer

Bill Pang, VP of Corporate Development, explained that NetEase has a mature methodology for game marketing and operations developed over two decades. He highlighted the company is now embracing new methods, including social media and AI, to make marketing investments more precise and effective, stating they know when to spend and when to be frugal.