Baidu On A Roll: Good Time To Buy?

Singaporean Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat on Tuesday said his country would welcome Baidu Inc. (BIDU.US; 9888.HK) to bring its Apollo Go robotaxi service to the Southeast Asian city, a potential milestone in the company's global expansion plans for its autonomous ride-hailing service.

Separately, media reports said that well-known investor Cathie Wood recently raised her stake in Baidu, one of China's leaders in large language model AI and autonomous driving.

Singapore's Heng extended his invitation during a trip to Baidu's Apollo Park in Beijing, where he met with CEO Robin Li, according to media reports. During the visit he rode in a sixth-generation robotaxi operated by Baidu under its Apollo Go brand. The service uses fully autonomous Level 4 (L4) technology. Baidu says its autonomous driving fleets have driven over 150 million kilometers autonomously to date without any casualties, and experience just 1/14th the insurance claims of human drivers.

Baidu currently operates Apollo Go service in the Chinese cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Wuhan and Chongqing. It also recently started road tests in Hong Kong, after securing the city's first autonomous vehicle testing license late last year.

A move into Singapore would mark the first major step outside the Greater China region for Baidu, after Li hinted last year that the company was preparing for such a move. Chinese media have reported the company is also exploring moves into the Middle East and Europe.

Separately, other media reports said that two ETFs controlled by Cathie Wood's ARK Invest boosted their Baidu holdings by acquiring an additional 129,451 of the company's shares.