Lenovo's Yang looks overseas for growth

Past expansion gives IT giant an edge in foreign markets, says its chief

Yang Yuanqing, chairman and chief executive of the world's largest personal computer maker Lenovo Group Ltd, is often referred to as "YY" by his business partners. The sobriquet has stood Yang in good stead as it helped his industry peers to interact with him without being tied up on how to pronounce his name.

The Beijing-based Lenovo is also the fourth-largest smartphone vendor in the world after acquiring Motorola Mobility from Google Inc for $2.9 billion more than a year ago. The company is also the top player in the Chinese server market and is expanding into cloud computing in a big way along with plans to be a software and services provider.