Lenovo sees AI deliver on productivity

Chinese tech company Lenovo has outlined a bold vision for AI-driven intelligent agents poised to redefine human-machine collaboration, while addressing concerns over global tariff pressures and product pricing.

Yang Yuanqing, chairman and CEO of Lenovo, said AI is evolving from a tool into a "cognitive operating system" for individuals and enterprises.

"In the future, AI will handle the grind of productivity, while humans focus on creativity," Yang said. Highlighting breakthroughs like Chinese open-source AI company DeepSeek's inference-optimized models, Yang predicted that intelligent agents will become the next catalyst for quality-of-life and productivity gains.

These AI agents need to excel in areas such as multi-modal interaction, namely, combining text, voice, gesture and eye-tracking for seamless cross-device intent recognition, he said.

Meanwhile, AI agents need to be good at cognitive decision-making, to integrate edge-to-cloud knowledge bases for adaptive reasoning and "transfer learning" capabilities.

Addressing data risks, Yang emphasized security as the foundation, citing Lenovo's deepfake detection tools now embedded in its agents. On the technical front, he stressed that edge AI's exponential growth relies on two pillars, namely customized computing solutions, developed with chip partners, and software-hardware co-optimized inference engines.

During a live demo, Lenovo's second-gen agent — boosted by its proprietary inference accelerator — solved a data analysis problem where the first-gen model failed, showcasing gains in speed, memory efficiency and energy use.

With US tariffs rattling electronics markets, Yang acknowledged pricing uncertainties, but struck a measured tone in an interview. "Semiconductor-based products currently enjoy tariff exemptions, so near-term impacts may be limited," he noted. However, he identified two critical variables, component supply-demand dynamics and policy shifts, which could reshape Lenovo's pricing strategy.

While avoiding direct commitments, Yang underscored Lenovo's globalized operations as a buffer: "As a company with R&D, manufacturing, and supply chains distributed worldwide, we're positioned to adapt."

Liu Jun, president of Lenovo China, said the company aims to accelerate AI adoption for over 30,000 government and enterprise clients, and empower over 1 million small and medium-sized enterprises to unlock new revenue streams, reduce costs and improve efficiency in 2025.

It is also working to deliver proactive, multi-device, and multi-scenario AI services to more than 230 million individual consumers across China this year, Liu added.

Lenovo reported a strong financial performance for the last quarter of 2024. Its revenue grew 20 percent year-on-year to $18.8 billion, marking the third consecutive quarter of double-digit growth as its investment in AI drives businesses forward.

In February, Lenovo and Alat, a unit of the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, broke ground on a new manufacturing base in the Saudi capital of Riyadh.

Alat CEO Amit Midha said: "With the establishment of a regional headquarters in Riyadh and a world-class manufacturing hub, powered by clean energy, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, we expect the Lenovo team to further their potential across the Middle East and Africa region."