Lenovo Venture Capital, ten years investing, eight companies worth 200 billion

Ask AI · How does Lenovo Venture Capital use research-driven strategies to precisely capture technological trends?

On the first day of April, Zhipu’s stock price soared to a new high, with a market value surpassing 400 billion Hong Kong dollars, multiplying over seven times since its IPO debut. This means that, as the investor behind Zhipu, Lenovo Venture Capital is set to enjoy substantial returns.

Such a scene vividly reflects Lenovo Venture Capital’s achievements over the past year — record-high investment returns for fiscal year 2025/26, a record number of IPOs, with five IPOs in total and 25 IPOs overall.

“In the last fiscal year, Lenovo Venture Capital’s core metrics — annual investment returns, IPO count, and the ecosystem synergy amount of invested companies — all hit record highs, delivering a performance report that combines investment results with industrial value,” summarized Wang Guangxi, Vice President of Lenovo Group and Managing Partner of Lenovo Venture Capital.

This year also marks Lenovo Venture Capital’s 10th anniversary: over 300 invested companies, eight publicly listed companies valued at over 200 billion yuan (including four at 500 billion yuan), and a leading AI computing power giant “dominating all four categories.” Such a solid track record sketches a behind-the-scenes investment logic that crosses cycles, creating a valuable case study for corporate venture capital (CVC).

From Cambrian to Zhipu

Investing in 8 companies valued at over 200 billion (4 at 500 billion)

Over ten years, what kind of results can a CVC organization deliver? Lenovo Venture Capital’s answer: over 300 technology companies invested, with 25 successfully listed; contributing an average annual benefit of over 1 billion RMB to Lenovo Group.

The value creation behind this is far more than that. It is well known that investing in high-market-cap companies is regarded as an important standard for measuring an investment firm’s “hunting” ability. Lenovo Venture Capital exemplifies this, having successfully invested in eight listed companies with a market value exceeding 200 billion RMB, four of which reached the 500 billion level.

Especially in the hot AI computing power sector, the presence of Lenovo Venture Capital is evident behind the “Cambricon,” “Hygon Information,” “Molex Thread,” and “Moxi” four “new powerhouses” in computing. In the venture capital circle, achieving “all four categories” is a rare feat.

Thus, Lenovo Venture Capital has built a computing power ecosystem, forming a matrix of technological complementarities, and secured a key position before the explosion of large models — Cambricon focuses on AI-specific chips, targeting algorithm efficiency; Hygon adopts x86 compatibility, emphasizing ecosystem stability; Molex Thread develops full-function GPUs covering graphics and computation; Moxi concentrates on data center GPUs for high-performance training.

In fostering innovation, Lenovo Venture Capital has incubated over 50 unicorns, with more than 60 of its portfolio companies recognized as national-level specialized, refined, and innovative “Little Giants,” with over 50% receiving “specialized, refined, and innovative” SME certification.

Lenovo Venture Capital President and Founding Partner He Zhiqiang previously stated to the investment community that, as a CVC, it is more important to remember its positioning. Just as Lenovo Venture Capital positions itself as Lenovo Group’s technological lookout tower, it must focus on early-stage technology and hard tech investments. “As long as we concentrate our capabilities here, whether the invested companies become specialized, refined, and innovative or new productive forces, it’s just a natural outcome of our坚持‘early, small, hard tech’ investment philosophy.”

Few outside know that Lenovo Venture Capital conducts in-depth industry research every year, during which it does not invest in any projects, with everyone immersed in studying the industry. This has become an internal “iron law”: investors must always keep an eye on original innovation projects to discover the next big trend.

Undoubtedly, in the tech investment industry, “first-mover advantage” often determines everything. Especially in recent years, the rapid maturation cycle of emerging industries has further tested an investment organization’s judgment on the industrialization process of technology.

Over the past decade, Lenovo Venture Capital has adhered to research-driven investing, with a clear rhythm that allows it to timely capture China’s leading industry directions: in 2016, focusing on “IoT + edge computing + cloud + big data + AI” in industrial internet; in 2017-2018, pre-judging the opportunities of domestic semiconductors and preemptively deploying infrastructure for computing power; in recent years, focusing on AI 2.0 and embodied intelligence. To some extent, this is almost a concise history of China’s technological development over the past decade.

In other words, every layout by Lenovo Venture Capital is based on deep thinking about the path of technological industrialization and commercial implementation. This is precisely the core of a CVC organization.

A CVC research model

From financial investment to industrial synergy

Over the years, Lenovo Venture Capital has charted a unique CVC path.

Different from traditional financial VC, Lenovo Venture Capital acts as Lenovo Group’s technological lookout, emphasizing synergy with the parent company’s industrial resources.

Furthermore, within Lenovo Group’s “business unit – research institute – venture capital” three-tier R&D system, Lenovo Venture Capital plays a critical role. Over the past decade, it has developed a “CVC 2.0” practice model, enriching CVC with more innovative connotations. The core approach is to promote investment and business synergy. In recent years, the annual ecosystem synergy amount of invested companies has continued to rise.

Specifically, Lenovo Venture Capital provides more than just funding; it leverages Lenovo’s global brand, channels, supply chain, and other industrial resources to build bridges for business cooperation between portfolio companies and Lenovo Group, jointly creating a networked competitive advantage.

A truly innovative ecosystem relies on mutual empowerment. To this end, Lenovo Venture Capital launched three major ecosystem initiatives:

• “Innovation Accelerator,” a full-value-chain empowerment platform for startups, supporting technology commercialization and market expansion;

• “Bright Plan,” leveraging Lenovo Group’s global supply chain factories to share Lenovo’s smart manufacturing experience and provide manufacturing empowerment services from pilot to mass production;

• “Spark Plan,” focusing on early concept verification and成果转化 for R&D teams, offering engineering proof-of-concept and pilot support to accelerate product commercialization.

These collaborative supports are also implemented in real scenarios. In October 2025, Lenovo Venture Capital collaborated with Lenovo Southern Intelligent Manufacturing Base, delivering the first batch of humanoid robots from two invested companies, “Cross-Modal Intelligence” and “Daimeng Robotics,” achieving two-week pilot and three-month mass production, with a 20% increase in production efficiency and a 10% reduction in costs. This demonstrated how Lenovo, as the chain’s main enterprise, can streamline mass production and accelerate embodied intelligence technology from labs to production lines.

Wang Guangxi has also deeply felt this in recent years. In previous exchanges with the investment community, he mentioned that the collaboration between Lenovo Venture Capital and the group is becoming increasingly close. Internal business units of Lenovo actively seek out Lenovo Venture Capital, saying, “This matter can bring venture capital into the fold,” and such voices are growing. In his view, this change reflects a true deep coupling among group departments, enabling mutual pursuit.

Currently, Lenovo Venture Capital has promoted over 70 invested companies, establishing deep business collaborations with Lenovo Group. This model is building a “symbiotic and prosperous” tech rainforest, where external innovative technologies and Lenovo’s industrial resources generate chemical reactions.

In Wang Guangxi’s opinion, “Promoting ecosystem cooperation between invested companies and Lenovo’s businesses, and even pushing invested companies to become core parts of Lenovo’s main business or core technology, embodies the core value of our ongoing CVC pursuit.”

Crossing cycles, starting a new decade

Standing at the dawn of a silicon-based intelligent explosion, how will Lenovo Venture Capital open the next ten years?

He Zhiqiang often emphasizes in internal meetings: “In a cycle of intense technological waves, investors must always be able to clear their minds and return to the simplest starting point of investment — fulfilling the fiduciary duty.”

This means that the Lenovo Venture Capital team must always think independently, basing decisions on facts, data, and logic, rather than being swayed by emotions, trends, or short-term narratives. Culturally, it must emphasize “integrity, humility, learning, pragmatism, and win-win passion.”

These are higher standards of self-discipline: maintaining common sense while firmly believing in technology; making rational judgments about cyclical fluctuations; and continuously loving and patiently pursuing entrepreneurship.

Ultimately, the simple and honest principle is to return to fundamentals and self-competition, consistently applying time-tested venture capital principles.

Having long been at the forefront of China’s tech industry, Lenovo Venture Capital has witnessed many industry shifts. For a CVC organization, the greatest risk lies in misjudging the track and trends. “CVC must ensure financial returns while not missing industry waves — that’s a challenging balancing act.”

In recent years, the rapid shortening of emerging industry maturation cycles has further tested an investment organization’s judgment on technological industrialization.

Over the past decade, Lenovo Venture Capital has maintained research-driven investing, with a clear rhythm that allows it to timely grasp China’s leading industry directions: in 2016, focusing on “IoT + edge computing + cloud + big data + AI”; in 2017-2018, pre-judging the opportunities of domestic semiconductors and preemptively deploying infrastructure for computing power; in recent years, focusing on AI 2.0, embodied intelligence, and large-scale technological projects. To some extent, this is almost a condensed history of China’s technological development over the past decade.

In other words, every major layout by Lenovo Venture Capital is based on deep research into the path of technological industrialization and commercial realization. The key is not just “seeing early,” but seeing deeply, systemically, and practically, combined with Lenovo’s advantages in industrialization, transforming insights into real industry momentum.

They are well aware that each step forward requires shedding reliance on past successes and possessing a strong desire to explore epoch-making technologies.

This is why Lenovo Venture Capital adheres to the “28” investment principle: 80% focus on core technologies, maintaining the初心 of “early, small, and hard tech” investments, leveraging the unique advantages of CVC — understanding technology deeply and promoting its industrialization — and empowering portfolio companies in branding, channels, supply chains, team building, and internationalization; the remaining 20% targets the most promising emerging fields, capturing potential opportunities in disruptive innovation.

Looking ahead, silicon-based intelligence is not only a grand industrial revolution but also a profound social transformation.

Lenovo Venture Capital has keenly observed new changes, including the future coexistence and collaboration of multiple foundational models, building Agentic capabilities, and exploring new IT infrastructure composed of large language models and world models; computing power will become an inclusive intelligent service; more forms of intelligent terminals will serve as key entry points, with various IoT and embodied intelligence coexisting; AI will profoundly transform industries, with transportation, healthcare, and other sectors continuously innovating and reshaping under AI’s influence.

Thus, the roadmap for Lenovo Venture Capital’s next decade is also clearly emerging: further deepen its layout in core layers of silicon-based intelligence — from fundamental computing power and AI to embodied intelligence, new energy, and life sciences. Meanwhile, further amplify its CVC 2.0 ecosystem empowerment effects. In Lenovo Venture Capital’s view, the next great tech company will sprout in the soil of super technological projects and grow amid the wave of silicon-based intelligence.

We are all about to witness this magnificent scene.