Shares of Chinese tech giant Baidu surged over 5% in Friday's pre-market session, riding a broad wave of optimism sweeping through the Chinese internet and technology sector.
The rally in Baidu's stock price came amid a slew of upbeat earnings from several major Chinese tech firms, combined with growing excitement around the burgeoning artificial intelligence industry in the country, particularly the rise of local AI startup DeepSeek.
Baidu's stock price climbed along with other Chinese tech heavyweights such as Alibaba, Bilibili, and Li Auto, all of which saw robust gains in premarket trading as well. The optimism seemed to stem from Alibaba's impressive quarterly earnings, which topped Wall Street estimates, as well as recent positive signals from Beijing, including President Xi's recent meeting with Alibaba founder Jack Ma, hinting at a more supportive stance towards China's private tech sector.