Baidu, China's dominant search engine company, has expanded into artificial intelligence, autonomous driving, and cloud services since its founding in Beijing in 2000. Baidu is a Chinese technology company best known for operating China's dominant internet search engine, often described as the Google $GOOGL of China. Headquartered in Beijing, the company was founded in 2000 by Robin Li and Eric Xu. Li, who had previously worked on search technology at Infoseek in the U.S., developed a key algorithm for ranking web pages before returning to China to co-found Baidu. The company's core product is its search engine, which serves hundreds of millions of users across China and holds the largest share of the Chinese-language search market. Because Google operates under restrictions in China, Baidu fills the role of default search provider for most Chinese internet users. Beyond search, Baidu has built an ecosystem of services including online maps, cloud storage, an app store, and an AI-powered voice assistant called DuerOS. Baidu has invested heavily in artificial intelligence and autonomous driving. Its Apollo platform is one of China's most prominent self-driving vehicle projects, providing open-source software and hardware frameworks to automakers and technology partners. The company has positioned AI as central to its long-term strategy, applying machine learning across its search, advertising, and cloud businesses. The company earns the majority of its revenue from online advertising, which is served across its search platform and affiliated content networks. It is listed on the Nasdaq $NDAQ Stock Market under the ticker BAIDU (BIDU) and is also listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, giving it access to both international and mainland-adjacent investors. Baidu is one of the companies the U.S. Department of Defense has added to its list of Chinese military companies, a designation that bars the Defense Department from entering into direct