0910 GMT - Baidu's shares closed at the highest level in over two years in Hong Kong, likely lifted by news that one of its AI products hit a usage milestone. The stock reversed from an opening loss to finish 1.0% higher, outperforming the Hang Seng Tech Index's 1.2% loss. That came after the company's AI assistant surpassed 200 million monthly active users, according to people familiar with the matter. Baidu's AI-empowered Ernie Assistant is integrated into its flagship search-engine app and on personal computers. Competition among Chinese tech giants has been heating up in the AI space, with ByteDance, Alibaba, Tencent and others investing heavily in AI models and applications. (jiahui.huang@wsj.com; @ivy_jiahuihuang)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 20, 2026 04:10 ET (09:10 GMT)
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