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Lenovo and Alibaba team up to build AI computers, as generative AI race heats up in China

  • Lenovo will collaborate with Alibaba on AI personal computers and other AI-powered devices, the Beijing-based firm says
  • Special versions of the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i feature a personalised AI agent, Lenovo Xiaotian, supported by Alibaba’s AI model Tongyi Qianwen

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Lenovo is partnership with Alibaba to launch AI-powered devices. Photo: Shutterstock
Ann Caoin Shanghai

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.

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Those products will include PCs that are 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 has 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 large language model Tongyi Qianwen, according to several Chinese media reports. Alibaba is the owner of the South China Morning Post.

The Alibaba office in Beijing. Photo: AP Photo
The Alibaba office in Beijing. Photo: AP Photo

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.

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