Paul Tudor Jones sees potential market rally after late October
Investing.com-- Baidu Inc shares surged on Wednesday, lifted by growing investor confidence in its home-grown AI chip efforts as China accelerates its drive toward semiconductor independence.
The rally follows reports that Baidu has begun using its internally developed Kunlun P800 chip to train versions of its Ernie large language models, partly displacing reliance on Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) chips.
The surge was also attributed to Baidu’s AI-focused deal with state-owned China Merchants Group (HK:3968) to apply AI across transportation, finance, and property sectors.
Hong Kong-listed shares of the company surged as much as 17% to HK$131.9 on Wednesday, reaching their highest level in nearly a year.
The stock jumped nearly 20% last week, when reports emerged, while it has gained more than 40% so far this month.
Adding to the upbeat sentiment, a Bloomberg report showed that analysts at Arete Research Services upgraded their rating on Baidu’s American depositary receipts to "buy" from "sell", ending the sole sell recommendation it had maintained since last May.
The chip strategy reinforces China’s tech self-sufficiency drive amid U.S. chip export controls. Chinese regulators have discouraged the use of Nvidia’s H20 chips, in a bid to boost their domestic chipmaking.