(Yicai Global) March 2 -- Baidu's stock price jumped after the Chinese technology giant revealed revenue that surpassed estimates for the fourth straight quarter as the firm's cloud and artificial intelligence business was growing rapidly.

The search engine developer's Hong Kong-listed shares [HKG: 9888] opened 9.3 percent up at HKD161.80 (USD20.70). The shares are still almost 40 percent down in the past 12 months.

Baidu's US-listed equity price [NASDAQ: BIDU] closed 6.8 percent up at USD162.86 yesterday, after which the shares were 0.7 percent up in after-hours trading. The stock price is almost 50 percent down in the past year.

Revenue rose 9 percent to CNY33.1 billion (USD5.2 billion) in the fourth quarter of 2021 from a year earlier, the Beijing-based company said in its earnings report yesterday. But net income dived 67 percent. Meanwhile, it turned a net profit of CNY1.7 billion (USD269.3 million) after reporting a net loss of CNY16.6 billion a year ago.

In the 12 months of 2021, Baidu recorded a 16 percent increase in revenue to CNY124.5 billion (USD19.5 billion) from 2020. However, net income dropped 54 percent to CNY10.2 billion. Its non-advertising revenue soared by 71 percent to CNY21.2 billion, making up almost a fifth of the total, driven by cloud and other AI-powered segments.

Founder and Chief Executive Robin Li explained further about the firm's AI offering. Baidu brought its AI capabilities to China’s traditional industries and public service sector to improve efficiency while Apollo Go, the company's robotaxi service, provided around 213,000 rides in the fourth quarter, almost doubling, according to Li.

"Our strategic commitments are closely geared with China’s endeavors in technology innovation and transition to a green economy," Li concluded. 

Editor: Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi