Chongqing - "To develop new quality productive forces, we must fully leverage the driving force of artificial intelligence," stated Yang Yuanqing, chairman and CEO of Lenovo, during the 2024 World Intelligence Expo on June 20.
Yang Yuanqing is the chairman and CEO of Lenovo. (Photo/WIE)
Yang said that fostering innovation within the framework of new quality productive forces involves accelerating the development of new AI technologies, products, and business models. This approach aims to create new growth opportunities and potentially new economic growth hubs.
He mentioned generative AI that accelerates digital and intelligent transformation across industries, signaling a potential overhaul of the global industrial economy.
Popular generative AI and large language models typically run on public cloud platforms, raising significant data and privacy security concerns. Consequently, the coexistence and complementarity of public and private intelligence (including personal and enterprise AI) are becoming inevitable, leading to a "hybrid AI" paradigm.
Yang values the importance of developing AI personal terminal devices, particularly AI PCs, to popularize hybrid AI.
Unlike traditional computers, AI PCs are equipped with embedded large models for natural interaction. They integrate robust local heterogeneous computing capabilities (CPU, GPU, NPU), establish personal knowledge bases, and connect to an open AI application ecosystem. Importantly, they also prioritize data and privacy security.
"To truly bring artificial intelligence into practice, we must first enhance innovation in edge AI, making AI accessible and pervasive," Yang noted.
Edge AI involves deploying AI algorithms on devices at the network edge, facilitating local data processing. By bypassing centralized cloud servers, this approach enhances decision-making speed, reduces latency, and improves data privacy and security.
The expansion of AI terminal devices beyond computers to phones, tablets, AR/VR devices, and watches highlights the potential for edge AI to revolutionize the smart terminal industry chain. This innovation could lead to the creation of a new industrial ecosystem, offering significant growth prospects.
AI empowering traditional industries like manufacturing
Yang explained that "enhancing quality through intelligence" involves harnessing AI to empower traditional industries, particularly manufacturing, for quality improvement, efficiency enhancement, and transformation.
A prime example is Lenovo Innovation Industrial Park in Tianjin, which was fully operational last November. The park has established an industry-leading smart and green production and operation system utilizing cutting-edge intelligent IT technology.
A new laptop rolls off the line every nine seconds, boosting production efficiency by 200%, reducing defects by 30%, and lowering energy consumption by nearly 10%. With photovoltaic and green electricity measures, the Tianjin Lenovo Innovation Industrial Park has become the ICT sector's first "zero-carbon factory."
In May, the Tianjin Industrial Park produced its one millionth computer, a Lenovo Xiaoxin Pro 16. Launched in April, this AI PC is among the first personalized AI computers in the Chinese market.
Yang emphasized that China’s strong manufacturing foundation should actively pursue new "AI+" scenarios and applications. By fostering "digital-physical integration" and "digital-intelligent synergy," China can advance its manufacturing sector's intelligent and green transformation, elevating Chinese manufacturing to the upper levels of global industrial and value chains.