Leading Internet companies in China

Baidu

Baidu was founded in 2000 by Internet pioneer Robin Li (Li Yanhong) in Beijing’s Zhongguancun Science Park. It has now developed into a world-renowned and one of China’s major high-tech Internet companies with a sound profit model and comprehensive business system covering search engines, post bar, finance and Baidu maps, to name just a few. With the world’s cutting-edge technology, Baidu makes China one of only four countries in the world, besides the US, Russia and South Korea, to have mastered core search engine technology.

The mission of Baidu is to make the complicated world simpler through technology. Its vision is to be a top global technology company which best understands users’ needs and enables their growth. Dating back to its earliest days, Baidu has been adhering to the idea of “user first” and technology innovation, and devoted to providing users with simple and reliable Internet search products and services. Authoritative third-party data show that the total market share of Baidu’s PC and mobile terminals in China reaches 73.5 percent, covering 97.5 percent of Chinese netizens, with 600 million users and an average daily search response of 8 billion times.

Alibaba Group

Alibaba Group was founded in 1999 by 18 people led by Jack Ma, a former English teacher from Hangzhou, China. The company operates various businesses and derives support for its ecosystem from the businesses and services of related and affiliated companies. Its major businesses and the businesses of related companies include: Taobao Marketplace, TMALL, Aliexpress, Alibaba.com, 1688.com, Alimama, Alibaba Cloud, Cainiao Network, and Ant Financial.

Today, the company and its related companies operate leading wholesale and retail online marketplaces as well as businesses in cloud computing, digital media and entertainment, innovation initiatives and other sectors. Alibaba was crowned China's most valuable internet company in 2018, as its value surpassed Tencent to reach 3.16 trillion yuan ($470.15 billion).

Tencent

Headquartered in Shenzhen, China, and founded in 1998, Tencent is an internet-based technology and cultural enterprise. Through the company’s two principal business operations, ‘social platforms’ and ‘digital content’, Tencent develops and delivers game-changing products such as social communication platforms ‘Weixin/WeChat’ and ‘QQ’ that connect people with services, foster closer relationships and create new business opportunities.

From comics, videos, games and animation to music, literature, films and news, Tencent offers an incredible array of first-class digital content and multi-media services, providing entertainment and cultural enrichment to over 1 billion users across the globe. Tencent also provides cutting-edge financial technology and seamless mobile payment solutions that are helping support the development of smart cities, smart transport and smart retail. The valuation of these ventures significantly exceeds 100 billion yuan (over US$14.5 billion).

Huawei

Huawei, founded in 1987 in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, is a leading global provider of information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and smart devices. With integrated solutions across four key domains, namely, telecom networks, IT, smart devices, and cloud services, the company is committed to bringing the digital world to every person, home and organization for a fully connected, intelligent world.

Huawei's end-to-end portfolio of products, solutions and services is both competitive and secure. Through open collaboration with ecosystem partners, the company creates lasting value for customers, working to empower people, enrich their home lives, and inspire innovation in organizations of all shapes and sizes. At Huawei, innovation focuses on customer needs. It invests heavily in basic research and concentrates on technological breakthroughs that drive the world forward. Huawei has more than 180,000 employees, and operates in more than 170 countries and regions.

Xiaomi

Chinese consumer technology giant Xiaomi Corp was founded in 2010 by serial entrepreneur Lei Jun, who believes that high-quality technology doesn't need to cost a fortune. The company creates remarkable hardware, software, and internet services for and with the help of Mi fans. Its mission is to keep making practical and fairly priced products and let everyone enjoy a good life brought by technology. Its annual income has exceeded 100 billion yuan ($14.5 billion) just seven years since its foundation. As of 2018, Xiaomi had expanded its business to more than 80 countries and regions.

At present, Xiaomi is the fourth largest smart phone maker by shipments in the world and ranks in the top 5 in the mobile phone market of over 30 countries and regions. Through its unique industrial ecological chain, it has invested in or motivated many like-minded  entrepreneurs and established a mammoth IoT platform connecting over 130 million smart devices. On July 9, 2018, Xiaomi was listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, at that time the largest technology initial public offering (IPO) ever in Hong Kong and the world’s third largest technology IPO.