China’s Lenovo Extends Revenue Growth Streak, Beats Expectations

FILE PHOTO: A Lenovo logo is seen in Kiev, Ukraine April 21, 2016. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich/File Photo/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A Lenovo logo is seen in Kiev, Ukraine April 21, 2016. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich/File Photo/File Photo
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China’s Lenovo Extends Revenue Growth Streak, Beats Expectations

FILE PHOTO: A Lenovo logo is seen in Kiev, Ukraine April 21, 2016. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich/File Photo/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A Lenovo logo is seen in Kiev, Ukraine April 21, 2016. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich/File Photo/File Photo

China's Lenovo Group reported a 9% rise in fourth-quarter revenue to $13.8 billion on Thursday, as the world's largest maker of personal computers (PCs) exits a demand slump following the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Revenue for the January-March quarter beat an average estimate of $13 billion drawn from eight analysts, according to LSEG data.
This marks a second consecutive quarter of revenue growth for Lenovo after it suffered five straight quarters of revenue declines amid the post-COVID slowdown, Reuters reported.
Last month, research firm IDC said the global PC market has finally returned to growth during the first quarter this year after suffering nearly two years of decline.
PC shipments grew 1.5% year over year to 59.8 million during the quarter, with Lenovo firmly holding on to the No.1 title with a 23% market share, according to IDC.
But overall, Lenovo's revenue for the year ended March 31 fell 8% to 61.9 billion, beating analysts' expectations of $56.19 billion.
Lenovo's net profit for the January-March quarter rose 118% to $248 million, beating analysts’ estimates of $162 million.
The company is also actively exploring opportunities in artificial intelligence (AI), while continuing to expand its non-PC business, such as smartphones, servers and information technology services.
Revenue for its service business unit rose 8.5% to $1.8 billion for the quarter.
Lenovo’s shares soared by 12% on Wednesday after it unveiled two new AI PCs, a new breed of computers configured to effectively run AI applications.
Morgan Stanley analysts said in a client note this week that Lenovo will likely be one of the main beneficiaries of the AI PC boom. While AI PCs now account for just less than 5% of the market this year, about 64% of new PCs will be AI PCs by 2028, they said.
As such, AI PCs can generate up to 53% of revenue by 2028 for Lenovo, the highest among all the PC manufacturers, compared with the current 2%, they added.
Lenovo's shares fell 0.18% on Thursday, ahead of the quarterly earnings release.

 



OpenAI Appoints Former Top US Cyberwarrior Paul Nakasone to its Board of Directors

OpenAI showed off the latest update to its artificial intelligence model, which can mimic human cadences in its verbal responses and can even try to detect people’s moods. - The AP.
OpenAI showed off the latest update to its artificial intelligence model, which can mimic human cadences in its verbal responses and can even try to detect people’s moods. - The AP.
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OpenAI Appoints Former Top US Cyberwarrior Paul Nakasone to its Board of Directors

OpenAI showed off the latest update to its artificial intelligence model, which can mimic human cadences in its verbal responses and can even try to detect people’s moods. - The AP.
OpenAI showed off the latest update to its artificial intelligence model, which can mimic human cadences in its verbal responses and can even try to detect people’s moods. - The AP.

OpenAI has appointed a former top US cyberwarrior and intelligence official to its board of directors, saying he will help protect the ChatGPT maker from “increasingly sophisticated bad actors.”

Retired Army Gen. Paul Nakasone was the commander of US Cyber Command and the director of the National Security Agency before stepping down earlier this year.

He joins an OpenAI board of directors that's still picking up new members after upheaval at the San Francisco artificial intelligence company forced a reset of the board's leadership last year. The previous board had abruptly fired CEO Sam Altman and then was itself replaced as he returned to his CEO role days later, Reuters.

OpenAI reinstated Altman to its board of directors in March and said it had “full confidence” in his leadership after the conclusion of an outside investigation into the company’s turmoil. OpenAI's board is technically a nonprofit but also governs its rapidly growing business.

Nakasone is also joining OpenAI's new safety and security committee — a group that's supposed to advise the full board on “critical safety and security decisions” for its projects and operations. The safety group replaced an earlier safety team that was disbanded after several of its leaders quit.

Nakasone was already leading the Army branch of US Cyber Command when then-President Donald Trump in 2018 picked him to be director of the NSA, one of the nation's top intelligence posts, and head of US Cyber Command. He maintained the dual roles when President Joe Biden took office in 2021. He retired in February.