Baidu, Inc. (Chinese: 百度; pinyin: Bǎidù, anglicized BY-doo), incorporated on 18 January 2000, is a Chinese multinational technology company specializing in Internet-related services and products and artificial intelligence, headquartered at the Baidu Campus in Beijing's Haidian District. It is one of the largest AI and internet companies in the world. The holding company of the group was incorporated in the Cayman Islands. Baidu was established in 2000 by Robin Li and Eric Xu. Baidu is currently ranked 4th overall in the Alexa Internet rankings.Baidu's Global Business Unit, formed under the name of DU Group or DU Apps Studio, is an app developer with various apps and services. It has over 2 billion active users worldwide. Baidu also provides an official international and Chinese version of its popular online digital distribution services Baidu App Store and Shouji Baidu respectively, both hosting downloadable content and applications. Baidu's advertisement platform is DU Ad Platform.
Baidu's Apollo Project is one of the world's leading autonomous driving and AI programs, with one of the largest partner ecosystems and over 100 global partners as of 2018, including BYD, Dongfeng, Microsoft, Intel, Nvidia, Daimler AG, ZTE, Grab, Ford, Hyundai and Honda.Baidu has the 2nd largest search engine in the world, and held a 76.05% market share in China's search engine market. In December 2007, Baidu became the first Chinese company to be included in the NASDAQ-100 index. As of May 2018, Baidu's market cap rose to US$99 billion. In October 2018, Baidu became the first Chinese firm to join US-led A.I ethics group.