According to the Shanghai Jiao Tong University WeChat public account on April 6, on the occasion of the 130th anniversary of the founding of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Yang Yuanqing, chairman and CEO of Lenovo Group, director of Shanghai Jiao Tong University and 1981 computer science alumnus, announced that he would personally donate 200 million yuan to his alma mater to support the renovation of the old building on the third teaching floor of the Xuhui campus. After the renovation, the building will be used to support scientific research, innovation and talent cultivation in the artificial intelligence discipline.
At the same time, Lenovo Group and Shanghai Jiao Tong University jointly announced the upgrade of strategic cooperation. Lenovo Group will invest another 300 million yuan within five years, focusing on three major directions: scientific research cooperation, talent cooperation, and investment incubation, to achieve further upgrading of school-enterprise collaboration.
Witnessed by the entire audience, Yang Yuanqing signed a donation agreement with Yang Zhenbin, Secretary of the Party Committee of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and signed a school-enterprise strategic cooperation agreement with Ding Kuiling, the president and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Later, Yang Zhenbin and Ding Kuiling presented a donation certificate and a thank-you plaque to Yang Yuanqing.
This cooperation has achieved a key leap: from "100 million individual donations + 200 million school-enterprise cooperation" in 2021 to a new pattern of "200 million individual donations + 300 million school-enterprise cooperation".
Yang Yuanqing said that he will use this cooperation as a link to provide practical support for the school's artificial intelligence research innovation and talent training, help his alma mater cultivate more top international AI talents, and make greater contributions to national scientific and technological innovation.
Yang Zhenbin expressed his sincere gratitude to school director Yang Yuanqing and Lenovo Group for their long-term care and support for the development of the school. He said that School Director Yang Yuanqing’s generous donation supports the development of artificial intelligence disciplines and the signing of a strategic cooperation 2.0 agreement between Lenovo Group and the school is a continuation of a deep friendship. With the continued support of Yuanqing School Directors and Lenovo Group, the school will further gather high-level talents, cultivate original results, enhance its ability to serve national strategies, and show greater achievements in the era of artificial intelligence.
This is not Yang Yuanqing’s first donation to Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
According to Shanghai Jiao Tong University, in 2015, Yang Yuanqing, together with classmates from the 1981 Department of Computer Science, initiated the establishment of the first crowdfunding education fund in domestic universities, the Computer 85 Fund and the Yang Yuanqing Education Fund. In the past ten years, a total of more than 6.3 million yuan in scholarships and teaching awards have been distributed, and 136 outstanding students and 11 young teachers have been awarded, continuously injecting impetus into the cultivation of computer science talents.
In 2021, on the occasion of the 125th anniversary of his alma mater, Yang Yuanqing donated another 100 million yuan in his own name to build the scientific computing center with the most powerful computing power in Chinese universities at the time – "Siyuan No. 1".
Public information shows that Yang Yuanqing was born in Hefei, Anhui Province in 1964. He graduated from high school in Hefei No. 1 Middle School and graduated from Shanghai Jiao Tong University with a bachelor's degree. In 1989, Yang Yuanqing obtained a master's degree from the Computer Science Department of the University of Science and Technology of China and joined Lenovo Group in the same year.
The 2025 Hurun Rich List shows that Yang Yuanqing ranks 755th on the list with a wealth of 9.5 billion yuan.
On December 20, 2023, Yang Yuanqing also donated 200 million yuan to the University of Science and Technology of China, which was the largest individual alumni donation since the founding of the school.
On April 1, Yang Yuanqing, chairman and CEO of Lenovo Group, set a new goal at the swearing-in meeting for the new fiscal year: the company’s revenue target is to exceed US$100 billion in two years, and Lenovo wants to become an AI-native company.
Lenovo's financial report shows that Lenovo Group's revenue in the first three quarters of the 2025/26 fiscal year was 440 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 18%, and its adjusted net profit exceeded 10 billion yuan, a growth rate of 28%.
Looking back on the past year, Yang Yuanqing mentioned that Lenovo dealt with dynamically changing tariff pressures in the first half of the year, and needed to deal with the challenges brought about by parts shortages in the second half of the year. According to media reports, he told reporters in February this year that storage prices increased by 40% to 50% last quarter and may double this quarter. Not just storage, but even CPUs (central processing units) are increasing in price. Lenovo's scale advantages, diversified supply system and long-term good relationships with suppliers are becoming a "moat" in this cycle.
