By Sherry Qin


Lenovo posted its first revenue gain since 2022 on higher sales of its main products and forecast stronger PC demand in the second half of 2024 amid rising enthusiasm for artificial intelligence-powered technologies.

Revenue in the fiscal third quarter ended December rose 3% from a year earlier to $15.72 billion, the world's largest PC maker said Thursday, snapping a run of five straight quarters of declines. Sales for its intelligent-devices business, which consists of PCs, tablets, smartphones and other devices, rose 7%, resuming growth as the company finished clearing inventory built up during the pandemic.

The revenue growth is "a turning point" for Lenovo, Chairman and Chief Executive Yuanqing Yang told Dow Jones Newswires. He said he expects the momentum to continue.

Net profit fell to $337 million from $437 million, which Lenovo attributed to a high base.

Lenovo said that in the long term, it expects the global PC sector to recover to a level structurally higher than in the prepandemic period. It flagged the commercial replacement cycle and the premiumization trend, including the rise of AI-powered PCs, as the most important catalysts for its PC growth. Lenovo plans to debut its AI-powered PCs later this year.

"Today AI has been no doubt the hottest trend," Yang said.

Lenovo described the rise of the AI PC as "an inflection point for the PC industry. The company recently showcased an AI personal assistant, which enables users to interact through natural language to search emails and create meeting invitations.

Yang said he remains cautious about the PC demand recovery in the first half of 2024 as buyers wait for AI-powered PCs to come before they refresh their assets, but he forecast stronger demand in the second half.

Global AI PC shipments could reach 50 million units this year and are set to more than triple to 167 million units by 2027, representing nearly 60% of total shipments, researcher IDC said in a forecast this month.


Write to Sherry Qin at sherry.qin@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

02-22-24 0646ET