TNB Tech Minute: Baidu Reports Lower Revenue Amid Weak Ad Business - Tech News Briefing
This transcript was prepared by a transcription service. This version may not be in its final form and may be updated.
Speaker 1: Here's your afternoon TNB Tech Minute for Wednesday, August 20th. I'm Julie Chang for the Wall Street Journal. In earnings, Chinese search engine giant, Baidu, reported lower quarterly revenue amid a weaker performance in its core advertising business. Profit was better than expected though. Revenue for the second quarter fell 3.6 percent from a year earlier to 32.71 billion yuan, which equals to about 4.55 billion dollars. Baidu's CEO said the company's AI cloud business helped mitigate the near-term pressure on its online marketing business. Plus, General Motors has a new team focused on artificial intelligence. The automaker has been on a hiring spree the last eight months, bringing on board nearly a dozen hires from top tech companies, from Google to Meta to AWS. Its goal: to build a small but mighty AI team that'll assist the organization everywhere from factory production lines to the NASCAR racetrack, as well as help individual groups build AI workforces. Finally, we exclusively report that US battery companies are increasingly looking overseas for new manufacturing opportunities. Group14, a Seattle-based Silicon Valley materials maker, said it closed a $463 million funding round led by South Korean conglomerate SK. As part of that deal, Group14 will take control of the company's silicon battery material manufacturing in South Korea, having previously held a 25% stake in the joint venture. This comes at a time when support for clean tech wanes in the country. And that's a wrap for your TNB Tech Minutes. Tune in tomorrow morning for another quick Tech update.
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