Trade industry technology was proposed by Liu Chuanzhi.
In the early development of Lenovo Group, founder Liu Chuanzhi and the then chief engineer Ni Guangnan had huge differences. At that time, due to the impact of foreign brands, Lenovo's share of the PC market shrank significantly. Therefore, Ni Guangnan proposed to seek breakthroughs in chip technology and create new technological commanding heights.
However, Liu Chuanzhi held an opposing view and advocated building a brand and focusing on the computer assembly production line. Liu Chuanzhi and Ni Guangnan had serious disagreements over "trade, industry and technology" or "technology, industry and trade". In the end, Liu Chuanzhi won and Ni Guangnan was eliminated. In the following decades, Lenovo has always adhered to the "trade, industry and technology" route.
Judging from market performance, the "Trade, Industry and Technology" route does not seem to be wrong. Lenovo has achieved good results in both the PC computer market and the tablet computer field.
The hot sales of the products have also brought considerable revenue to Lenovo. However, in recent years, affected by the international situation, the outside world has a deep understanding of the importance of chips, and at the same time, it has also raised questions about Lenovo's "trade, industry and technology" route.
Trade, industry and technology are not a long-term solution
At present, the international situation is complex and ever-changing, and as a global group, Lenovo does not have core technology support. If it encounters the same situation as Huawei, Incident, chips and graphics cards are out of stock, and Lenovo Group will suffer immeasurable losses and impacts.
It can be seen that "trade, industry and technology" is not a long-term solution. Fortunately, Lenovo has finally recognized the reality. Recently, Lenovo Group President Yang Yuanqing publicly stated that he will increase investment in research and development. At Lenovo’s financial report communication meeting, Yang Yuanqing made it clear that Lenovo will continue to increase investment in research and development in the future and strive to double its investment within three years.
It is worth mentioning that according to Lenovo’s financial report, the company’s R&D investment in the first fiscal quarter of 2021/22 has increased by 40% year-on-year. It is not difficult to see from this that Lenovo Group is very determined to self-research core technologies, and this also means that the Liu Chuanzhi era will end and Lenovo will usher in a new era.
According to Yang Yuanqing, Lenovo will firmly focus on the new IT field, which is end-edge cloud network intelligence. In the field of chips, Lenovo does not rule out the possibility of self-developed chips or cooperation.
A reporter from the Securities Times once counted that Lenovo currently has 17 R&D bases around the world, and the company has more than 10,000 researchers, engineers, and scientists.
In addition, Lenovo Group has accumulated nearly 30,000 patents and patent applications worldwide to date. Therefore, from the perspective of R&D team and technology, Lenovo Group has strong strength. Nowadays, Lenovo Group continues to increase its investment in research and development. The author believes that it is not impossible for Lenovo Group to break down trade and industry barriers.