LIVE FROM CANALYS CHANNELS FORUM, TAIPEI: Tu Che-Min, COO of Lenovo’s Intelligent Device Group (pictured), outlined the vendor’s plan to seize the connected devices opportunity to fuel its next wave of growth as demand for PCs shrinks.

While the traditional PC market is forecast to decline by as much as 20 per cent over the next five in years, the connected devices sector is expected to double or even triple over that period.

“That’s why it’s important for us to continue to grow and evolve in IoT”, he said, adding the company’s strength in servers and business infrastructure creates a strong anchor for providing digital transformation services to its enterprise customers.

He said it is investing heavily in the smart IoT space, along with AI, focusing on verticals including smart manufacturing, healthcare and smart retail.

Mobile recovery
Over the past six quarters the company turned around its handset business after losing close to half a billion dollars in fiscal 2016 to 2017, Tu said. “We have been running a profitable business, not just breaking even. I think there is a tremendous opportunity for us, especially in the commercial space, building on our strong PC position in the market.”

He teased the company’s foldable PC scheduled to be released in the second half of 2020. The ThinkPad X1 foldable will have a 13-inch OLED screen and folds into a 7-inch tablet.

Tu said Lenovo worked to balance its geographic focus, with China accounting for about 22 per cent of revenue from its PC and Smart Devices business in the second half of 2019 compared with more than 60 per cent five years ago. Asia Pacific accounts for 27 per cent, followed by North America (25 per cent) and EMEA (25 per cent).

Along with the mobile division, the PC unit forms part of Lenovo’s broader Intelligent Devices Group.