Baidu double upgraded to Buy at Arete on AI chip potential

As previously reported, Arete upgraded Baidu (BIDU) to Buy from Sell with a $143 price target AI chips remain under-supplied within China and Baidu’s Kunlun chip venture has the potential to more than offset the struggling online advertising business, the analyst tells investors. Noting that the company has already secured purchases from telecom operator China Mobile, Arete sees the Kunlun-powered GPU rental business materially boosting growth of the enterprise cloud segment and becoming a more dominant part of the company’s valuation than the lagging ad business, the analyst added.