Chinese internet firm Baidu Inc has agreed to acquire US computer vision firm xPerception for an undisclosed amount to support their renewed efforts in artificial intelligence as Chinese tech firms face regulatory headwinds in the United States. "The acquisition of xPerception is the latest in a recent series of notable investments aimed at strengthening Baidu's position as a global leader in AI," it said. Baidu is targeting foreign personnel and technology as part of a wider drive to refocus company resources on developing artificial intelligence capabilities. Revenues from the firm's core search unit took a beating last year when the Chinese government tightened online ad regulations, culling a chunk of existing advertisers with new eligibility requirements. The announcement comes as other Chinese tech firms struggle with regulatory push-back on acquisitions in the US market.

FILE PHOTO - Baidu's company logo is seen at its headquarters in Beijing December 17, 2014. BEIJING Chinese internet firm Baidu Inc has agreed to acquire U.S. computer vision firm xPerception for an undisclosed amount to support their renewed efforts in artificial intelligence as Chinese tech firms face regulatory headwinds in U.S. "The acquisition of xPerception is the latest in a recent series of notable investments aimed at strengthening Baidu's position as a global leader in AI," it said. Baidu is targeting foreign personnel and technology as part of a wider drive to refocus company resources on developing artificial intelligence capabilities. Revenues from the firm's core search unit took a beating last year when the Chinese government tightened online ad regulations, culling a chunk of existing advertisers with new eligibility requirements. The announcement comes as other Chinese tech firms struggle with regulatory push-back on acquisitions in the U.S. market.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese internet firm Baidu Inc has agreed to acquire U.S. computer vision firm xPerception for an undisclosed amount to support their renewed efforts in artificial intelligence as Chinese tech firms face regulatory headwinds in U.S.

In a strong indication of the links in tech between China and Silicon Valley, social network giant Tencent has acquired a 5 percent stake in U.S. electric car maker Tesla for $1.8 billion. The rationale behind the deal is potential collaboration on automated ride-sharing and delivery services as well as related information, entertainment and e-commerce content. Alibaba-backed search engine startup Quixey in Silicon Valley has failed with strategic misalignment, cultural differences and disagreements over a commercial contract to blame. Quixey was one of Alibaba's first bets in Silicon Valley tech startups, and the Chinese conglomerate led financing of well more than $100 million in Quixey, starting from 2013 and ending with a $30 million loan and $10 million in cash last summer. It's a high-profile fail for Alibaba and its U.S. investment strategy.

Above the Trend Line: machine learning industry rumor central, is a recurring feature of insideBIGDATA. In this column, we present a variety of short time-critical news items such as people movements, funding news, financial results, industry alignments, rumors and general scuttlebutt floating around the big data, data science and machine learning industries including behind-the-scenes anecdotes and curious buzz. Our intent is to provide our readers a one-stop source of late-breaking news to help keep you abreast of this fast-paced ecosystem. We're working hard on your behalf with our extensive vendor network to give you all the latest happenings. Be sure to Tweet Above the Trend Line articles using the hashtag: #abovethetrendline.

The landscape of data is ever-changing, meaning analysts need to evolve both their thinking and data collection methods to stay ahead of the curve. In many cases, data that might have been considered unique, uncommon or unattainably expensive just a few years ago is now widely used and often very affordable. It is the analysts who take advantage of these untapped data sources, while they remain untapped, who can reap the rewards by gaining a competitive advantage before the rest of their industry or peers catch on. This type of data is often referred to as alternative data, and with the ever-increasing levels of data available in the modern world comes the opportunity to gain unique insights, competitive industry advantage, and boosted profits. It is perhaps no surprise then to hear that the scramble to get hold of such data has been dubbed the new gold rush.

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. reported an unexpected rise in quarterly earnings after the main assembler of Apple Inc.'s devices rode record iPhone sales during the pivotal holiday shopping period. The world's biggest contract manufacturer of electronics reported a 30 percent increase in net income to 68.8 billion Taiwan dollars ($2.3 billion) in the three months ended December, according to Bloomberg calculations derived from previously released data. Hon Hai, better known as Foxconn Technology Group, derives about half its sales from Apple, data compiled by Bloomberg shows. The world's most valuable company shipped an unprecedented 78.3 million iPhones during the October-December quarter, despite its latest device representing a modest update on its predecessor. Optimism around Apple's iPhone for 2017 -- the 10th anniversary of the iconic device -- has driven the Taiwanese company's stock close to a decade high.

Microsoft (MSFT) ended 2016 in the green, up more than 10%. Moreover, the stock is off to a good start this year, with a 5% rise year to date. As a matter of fact, the company's upward movement started in early 2013. Since then, it has continued rewarding investors every year. Microsoft reported second-quarter results in January. The company's revenue came in at $26 billion, again exceeding analysts' estimate by $790 million.

DataRobot has raised $54 million in the first close of a Series C round led by New Enterprise Associates. The latest round brings the total amount raised by the Boston, Massachusetts-based company to $111 million, with "significant" additional funding expected in the second close of the round. Data scientists Jeremy Achin and Thomas DeGodoy founded DataRobot in 2012 on the belief that automated machine learning will not only increase productivity for data scientists, but will also open up the world of data science to non-data scientists. The DataRobot platform features hundreds of open-source machine learning algorithms, allowing users to quickly build predictive models. Chris Devaney, COO at DataRobot, told ZDNet that a data scientist would typically look at a set of data, prepare that data, and then train a predictive model -- a process that can take weeks or even months.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to Accenture's Second Quarter Fiscal 2017 Earnings Conference Call. During today's conference all participants will be in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. Instructions will be given at that time. I would now like to turn the conference over to Managing Director, Head of Investor Relations, Angie Park. Thank you, Shannon and thanks everyone for joining us today on our second quarter fiscal 2017 earnings announcement. As Shannon just mentioned, I'm Angie Park, Managing Director, Head of Investor Relations. With me today are Pierre Nanterme, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; and David Rowland, our Chief Financial Officer. We hope you've had an opportunity to review the News Release we issued a short time ago. Let me quickly outline the agenda for today's call. Pierre will begin with an overview of our results. David will take you through the financial details, including the income statement and balance sheet for the second quarter. Pierre will then provide a brief update on our market positioning before David provides our business outlook for the third quarter and full fiscal year 2017. We will then take your questions before Pierre provides a wrap up at the end of the call. As a reminder, when we discuss revenues during today's call, we're talking about revenues before reimbursements or net revenues. Some of the matters we'll discuss on the call, including our business outlook are forward-looking and as such, are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to those factors set forth in today's News Release and discussed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and other SEC filings. These risks and uncertainties could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed on this call.