Liu Chuanzhi

Liu Chuanzhi is a computer scientist, an entrepreneur, and the founder of Lenovo and Legend Holdings.

Chuanzhi was born in Zhenjiang in 1944. In 1967, he received a diploma from the Department of Radar Navigation of the People's Liberation Army Institute of Telecommunication Engineering––now called Xidian University. From the 1970s to the 1980s, Chuanzhi worked at the Chinese Academy of Sciences as a researcher.

Lenovo, founded as Legend Computer in 1984, was Chuanzhi's first company. The company was founded in Beijing and later incorporated in Hong Kong in 1988. Its work focused on information technology (IT) until 2000-2001, when it began to diversify business offerings into the fields of financial services, real estate, chemical materials, and foodstuffs. The name Legend was dropped in favor of Lenovo in 2002 once the company decided to expand into other countries.

As a result of Lenovo's $1.75 billion acquisition of IBM's PC unit in 2005, Chuanzhi became the first Chinese CEO to run an American company when Lenovo subsequently became China's first multinational corporation. In 2011, Lenovo became the world's second-largest vendor of personal computers. By the end of 2014, it was the third-largest producer of smartphones. In 2015, Lenovo reached #231 on the Fortune 500 list. In December 2021, Lenovo debuted a new global channel partner framework called Lenovo 360.

Legend Holdings is an investment holding company and the parent organization of Lenovo. Like Lenovo, it was founded in 1984. Chuanzhi and ten other researchers founded the company using funding from the Computing Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Other than Lenovo, Legend Holdings controls multiple subsidiaries, including Legend Star, Legend Capital, Hony Capital, Raycom Property Investment Co., and Joyvio Group.

In June 2012, Chuanzhi stepped down from his position as president of Legend Holdings. He remained as chairman of the board until he resigned in December 2019. However, he remained as honorary chairman, senior adviser, and a member of the board's strategy committee. On June 29, 2015, Legend Holdings was listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited.

Chuanzhi was a delegate of the 16th and 17th National Congresses of the Chinese Communist Party in 2002 and 2007, respectively. He was also a delegate of the 9th, 10th, and 11th National People's Congresses of China.

Chuanzhi has received a multitude of awards and honors over the years, including CCTV's Businessman of the Year in 2000, 2009, and 2011; the Entrepreneur for the World Award in 2010, given by the World Entrepreneur Forum; the International Association of Chinese Management Research (IACMR)'s Distinguished Executive Award in 2012; and the Thinkers 50 Leadership Award in 2013.