BENGALURU: Lenovo on Tuesday launched a new infrastructure R&D lab in Bengaluru, which will be one of its four critical labs globally after Morrisville, Beijing, and Taipei.
The PC maker has also started manufacturing AI servers in the country. Its Puducherry facility, operational since 2005, will now produce enterprise AI and GPU servers for AI workloads.
This is to meet the growing demands of local and international markets, and over 60 per cent of the production has been slated for export across the Asia-Pacific region.
It has a production capacity of up to 50,000 enterprise AI rack servers and 2,400 high-end GPU units annually. "We remain committed to driving India’s growth as an innovation hub by expanding our global manufacturing footprint and harnessing the strength of Indian talent and the industry ecosystem for technology R&D," said Amar Babu, President – Asia Pacific, Lenovo.
The company also said the Puducherry plant will manufacture five key offerings from Lenovo’s portfolio, including three rack-mounted enterprise AI servers and two flagship 8-way GPU servers.
Speaking about the new R&D lab in Bengaluru, Shailendra Katyal, Managing Director, Lenovo India, said the lab is equipped with advanced tools for electrical, design/testing, power characterisation, thermal analysis, and compliance testing.
This lab will be pivotal in the system design, development, and testing of next-generation server platforms, including hardware, firmware, and software development. All future mainstream server design, developments, and new technical initiatives will be conducted at this lab, thereby contributing to the company's global R&D initiatives, the PC maker said at the event on Tuesday.
Though the company did not provide specific investment details, top officials pointed out that the company had previously announced USD 1 billion investments globally. The company's global R&D spending has increased to USD 2.3 billion for FY23-24.
Lenovo has been manufacturing technology solutions in India for close to two decades now. With over seven million devices produced in India during FY24, Lenovo is enhancing its manufacturing and R&D capabilities.
“As we enter the AI decade, these investments are critical to delivering best-in-class AI infrastructure and Large Language Model solutions that meet the evolving needs of our customers,” said Amit Luthra, Managing Director, Lenovo ISG India. “We are excited about the growth potential this brings, not just for Lenovo, but for India as a global innovation hub," he added.
In May this year, Lenovo Group reported y-o-y revenue growth across all business groups in the fourth quarter with group revenue increasing nearly 10 per cent y-o-y to USD 13.8 billion and net income doubling to USD 248 million. Its non-PC revenue mix reached 45 per cent. Its revenue for the full fiscal year FY24 stood at USD 56.9 billion.
According to a recent report, the AI Server Market size, which was valued at USD 38.3 billion in 2023, will register a CAGR of over 18 per cent between 2024 and 2032.