It’s a tech company, it’s Chinese, and it’s at the top of its industry.
Lenovo’s computers, including the ThinkPad that it acquired from IBM, are the most popular in the world. Credit: Andrew Skudder, Creative Commons
Lenovo has stayed hot despite the frosty climate for Chinese tech companies.
The world’s top personal computer (PC) seller has largely escaped the high-profile crackdowns that have marred the outlook for other high-profile Chinese firms such as Huawei and Hikvision. Lenovo has, in fact, benefited from the surging PC market during the pandemic, with its annual revenue reaching a record $60.7 billion last year.
Lenovo’s ability to fly under the radar, even as U.S.-China tensions worsen, may be down to politicians and regulators seeing it as posing little threat in areas such as intelligence gathering and cybersecurity.
Meanwhile, Lenovo’s parent Legend Holdings has remained active, partly through its two investment firms, Hony Capital and Legend Capital, both based in Beijing. Each has been in operation for nearly two decades, investing domestically and overseas in industries as far-flung as Australian seafood and Israeli online casino games.
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The Global Intelligence Platform used by The Wire China