At the 2025 Baidu World Conference held today, Baidu founder Robin Li shared insights on the AI industry's structural transformation over the past year. He noted that the sector is shifting from an unhealthy "upright pyramid" model toward a healthier large-scale product architecture.

Li pointed out that the AI industry previously resembled an "upright pyramid," where the foundational chip layer captured the majority of value—chip manufacturers reaped the largest share, while model developers received only about one-tenth of that value. Applications built on these models saw their value further diminished by an order of magnitude. This structure, he argued, is unsustainable and unhealthy because chips alone do not generate direct value; applications do. However, current industry excitement remains disproportionately focused on chips and models, with tech giants and startups engaging in cross-investments that inflate valuations and market capitalizations.

In Li's view, a healthy AI industry should adopt an "inverted pyramid" structure. Regardless of chipmakers' profits, model developers should earn ten times that value, and applications built on these models should generate a hundredfold return. Only then, he emphasized, can the industry achieve a sustainable and balanced ecosystem.