Lenovo's Puducherry Tryst...Now With An AI Twist

Lenovo's APAC and India leadership, including AMAR BABU, President, Lenovo APAC, AMIT LUTHRA, Managing Director, Lenovo ISG India and SUMIR BHATIA, President, Lenovo ISG Group - APAC, spoke with BW Businessworld's Rohit Chintapali on the company's new manufacturing capabilities based out of Puducherry facility that will now involve AI servers and high-end GPU units.Excerpts

SUMIR BHATIA, President, Lenovo ISG Group – APAC “The conversations around AI and innovation are vibrant and inspiring in India. This is one of our fastest-growing markets”

Lenovo has been manufacturing in India since 2005. What changes have influenced Lenovo’s manufacturing approach, particularly with the new AI angle, and what was the leadership’s thought process behind these shifts?
Amar Babu: We have been manufacturing in India for two decades. So, manufacturing in India is not new to us and over a period of time we have expanded our capabilities here. We used to manufacture PCs, then we started manufacturing tablets, and we started manufacturing smartphones. It has been a continued evolution that whenever there is the right business model, opportunity and a business case, we would like to manufacture in India because it brings us closer to the customer and also allows us to leverage the local skillset, talent and government incentives and programmes.

AMIT LUTHRA, Managing Director, Lenovo ISG India “This enables us to meet India’s growing demand while also serving global markets”

Now, we are bringing AI server manufacturing as well. This means we are literally bringing the whole full stack of the portfolio that includes products and services, which is happening out of India, for India, and also for other parts of the world, especially Asia Pacific. India is a key hub for Lenovo worldwide and this is the next step.