Baidu’s CEO calls for innovation partnerships on first trip to India, the next battleground for Chinese tech giants

Robin Li, the billionaire founder and chief executive of Chinese search giant Baidu, has made his first visit to India, a market increasingly seen as the next frontier for Chinese tech companies thanks to its nearly half a billion internet users.

Speaking to the Indian Institute of Technology, known as the country’s equivalent of MIT, Li said Baidu was keen to partner with local institutions for innovation, according to a transcript of his comments provided by the company.

“India is one of the fastest-growing smartphone markets in the world, and is also a very large developing country right next to China,” he said on Saturday. “For the next decade, there will be more opportunities [for China and India].”

Li expects artificial intelligence to bring sweeping transformations to industries including customer service, education, transport and drug discovery.

“Going forward, we are entering a new age, the age of AI … if we can see [how] the internet changed the way we consume, or the way we entertain ourselves, the intelligent economy will change the way we produce. It will significantly improve productivity for humans,” he said.

Li’s visit comes as Chinese tech companies ranging from Bytedance to Xiaomi are making big strides in the country, a market of 451 million internet users but with only a 36 per cent penetration rate, according to data by Nielsen and the Internet and Mobile Association of India. US internet giants like Facebook and Google are also major players in the market.