LENOVO'S ACQUISITION of IBM's personal computer unit for US$1.75billion in late 2004 stands out as corporate China's first big foray into the global market; the purchase was a show of confidence that Chinese companies could hold their own with the best in the world.
But as with similar deals, such as the acquisition of French giant Thomson by Guangzhou-based television manufacturer TCL, it is still too early to comment on the success of the venture.
'I hold to my original view that this is really a very complementary transaction,' said Mary Ma, Lenovo chief financial officer and one of the chief architects of the IBM acquisition.
Lenovo, now the world's third largest PC maker, had 7.2 per cent of the world market in the fourth quarter of last year, compared with Dell's 17.2 per cent and Hewlett Packard's 15.7 per cent, according to research firm IDC.
Lenovo's challenges extend beyond the fact that the company has been losing market share abroad to HP and Dell, as giant enterprise clients switched their allegiance away from old contracts with IBM.
Nor has it helped that the company has been sullied by political mud-slinging in Washington. A 16,000-unit procurement deal with the US State Department has come under fire from American lawmakers who said the company did not have to compete in the marketplace because of its Chinese government connections. Critics even raised the spectre of Chinese spies gaining access to America's deepest secrets.