Lenovo and Alibaba team up to build AI-powered PCs
Computer maker is strengthening focus on the new technology amid broader trend in industry
Lenovo Group, the world’s largest personal computer (PC) maker, is collaborating with Alibaba Group Holding to create a series of artificial intelligence (AI) products, as big tech companies in China race to attract more users to their generative AI products.
Those products will include PCs equipped with semiconductors designed to run generative AI tasks locally, known as AI PCs, as well as other AI-powered devices and enterprise intelligence solutions, according to an announcement by Lenovo during its Tech World event in Shanghai on Thursday.
The company had also carried out “in-depth cooperation and joint innovation” in AI with a number of domestic enterprises and organisations, such as the Institute for AI Industry Research under Tsinghua University in Beijing, it said.
At the event, Lenovo launched special versions of its AI PC, the Yoga Book 9i, along with other AI-powered devices. The computers feature a personalised AI agent, Lenovo Xiaotian, supported by Alibaba’s Tongyi Qianwen large language model, according to several Chinese media reports. Alibaba owns the Post.
Lenovo has been strengthening its focus on AI amid a broader trend in the global PC industry to integrate the fast-developing technology into various products and services, in response to a projected rise in demand for such machines.
The next stage of AI development would see a shift “from technological breakthroughs to practical application”, Lenovo chairman and CEO Yang Yuanqing said at the conference.
“We need to accumulate user feedbacks in practical applications, continue to improve, and continue to innovate,” he said.
AI PCs will become mainstream in the next few years, with their share among new PCs in the Chinese market reaching 85 per cent by 2027, according to a forecast by market research firm IDC.
Among those attending the Lenovo event was Alibaba chief executive Eddie Wu Yongming. Wu has pledged to sharpen the e-commerce giant’s strategic focus on two main themes – “users first” and “AI-driven” – amid increased competition in the Chinese tech industry.
Besides Alibaba, Lenovo has teamed up with other major e-commerce companies to promote its AI-based products.
We need to ... continue to improve, and continue to innovate
YANG YUANQING, CEO, LENOVO GROUP
The Beijing-based company recently announced a renewal of its partnership with JD.com to drive sales of new AI devices in China, with the aim of generating 120 billion yuan (HK$129 billion) in revenue from 2024 to 2026 via the Alibaba rival’s online and offline channels.
Lenovo is also boosting its efforts to woo professional users looking for devices to perform generative AI tasks.
Last month, the firm unveiled a series of workstations targeting industrial users, scientists and developers that were powered by chips and software from Nvidia, the world’s leading supplier of graphics processors used for computing by AI models.