Baidu
China's leading AI and internet technology company
Baidu is China's leading AI and internet technology company, operating the country's largest search engine and developing AI platforms including ERNIE.
Baidu Expands ERNIE Enterprise Platform to Japan and South Korea
Baidu has announced the international expansion of its ERNIE large language model platform to Japan and South Korea, establishing local API endpoints, Japanese and Korean language optimization, and partnerships with regional enterprise integrators. The expansion includes dedicated inference infrastructure hosted in Tokyo and Seoul data centers, ensuring compliance with local data residency requirements. Baidu is positioning ERNIE as a cost-effective alternative to OpenAI and Google's Gemini for enterprises in Northeast Asia that require strong CJK (Chinese-Japanese-Korean) language capabilities.
Baidu and Toyota Announce Autonomous Driving Joint Venture for China
Baidu and Toyota Motor Corporation have announced the formation of a joint venture to develop and deploy autonomous driving technology specifically designed for Asian urban environments. The JV, headquartered in Shanghai with R&D centers in Tokyo and Beijing, will combine Baidu's Apollo autonomous driving platform with Toyota's vehicle manufacturing and safety engineering expertise. Initial deployment targets include robotaxi services in Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Tokyo by 2028. The partnership represents a $1.5 billion combined investment and will employ over 2,000 engineers across the three locations.