Analyst(s): Olivier Blanchard
Publication Date: February 24, 2025
Lenovo’s earnings highlight the convergence of AI adoption across its business units as the pairing of hybrid cloud solutions and AI PCs gains traction. The company’s focus on innovation and operational excellence also continues to drive its evolution in an AI-first world.
What is Covered in this Article:
- Lenovo Q3 FY 2025 financial results
- ISG’s record growth and return to profitability
- AI-powered PCs and smartphones driving IDG expansion
- SSG’s double-digit growth and AI-driven transformation
- Geopolitical risks and potential tariff impacts
The News: Lenovo Group Limited (HKSE: 992; ADR: LNVGY) reported its Q3 FY 2025 results, posting revenue of $18.8 billion. This exceeded consensus estimates by 5.5%, marking a 20% year-on-year (YoY) increase. Growth was broad-based across all business segments, with Intelligent Devices Group (IDG) revenue up 12% YoY, Infrastructure Solutions Group (ISG) surging 59% YoY, and Solutions & Services Group (SSG) rising 12% YoY. Operating profit increased 12% YoY to $687.7 million, surpassing consensus estimates by 3.8%. We note that the operating margin did decline to 3.7% from 3.9% in Q3 FY 2024, however.
Adding to the overall positive reporting from Lenovo, net profit more than doubled YoY to $692.7 million – partly uplifted by a $282 million non-recurring tax credit – significantly outpacing expectations. Diluted earnings per share (EPS) more than doubled to 5.35 US cents from 2.64 US cents in the prior-year quarter.
“AI technology, with higher efficiency and lower costs, is accelerating the maturation of personal AI, particularly on-device AI and edge AI,” said Yuanqing Yang, Chairman and CEO of Lenovo. “It has also accelerated enterprise adoption of AI. This aligns perfectly with the direction of hybrid AI we’ve been driving and leading. Looking ahead, our continued investment in innovation, combined with our exceptional and resilient global operations, positions us well for sustained and profitable growth in the future.”
Lenovo Q3 FY 2025 Revenue Jumps 20%, AI Momentum Fuels Expansion
Analyst Take: Lenovo’s Q3 FY 2025 results reflect its strategic push into AI-driven infrastructure, intelligent devices, and services, with broad-based growth across all segments. The company’s focus on hybrid AI, which blends cloud solutions with edge solutions like AI-enabled devices, is positioning it well for consistent and long-term gains. Strong AI server demand, a stabilizing PC market, and continued expansion in premium segments helped drive double-digit revenue growth for the quarter. While the non-recurring tax credit boosted net profit, Lenovo’s core business improvements, particularly in ISG and SSG, highlight its strengthening competitive position.
ISG Delivers Record Growth and Reaches Profitability
ISG’s 59% YoY surge marks an important return to profitability milestone, with record-high Cloud Service Provider (CSP) sales and steady Enterprise and Small Business Services (ESMB) expansion acting as critical growth drivers.
Management reaffirmed ISG’s $10 billion revenue target, emphasizing its Original Device Manufacturers or ODM+ focused sales model as a competitive edge – balancing in-house flexibility with outsourced scalability. Lenovo’s AI server business appears to be gaining healthy traction, bolstered by its Neptune Liquid Cooling technology, which now extends beyond supercomputing into automotive, finance, and electronics segments. This IP both enhances data center power efficiency and improves ROI in support of high-performance AI workloads. What we like most about Neptune solutions, aside from their positive impact on power efficiency and cost savings for data centers, is that they also work as a critical market differentiator for Lenovo, especially as demand for AI-focused hardware accelerates and energy-related costs continue to challenge margins for data center operators. Lenovo has a great solution here and a credible ROI story to bring to market.
Looking ahead, ISG also aims to streamline its portfolio, enhance go-to-market strategies, and optimize ESMB operations. With hybrid AI adoption rising and its Middle East expansion via Alat, Lenovo looks to have positioned ISG for sustained, profitable growth in the AI-driven infrastructure market.
AI-Powered PCs and Smartphones Gain Market Traction
Lenovo’s IDG grew 12% YoY, both reinforcing its leadership in the PC market and extending its lead over the second-largest segment competitor by nearly five points. An important point to note here is that AI PC adoption is accelerating, with the PC refresh cycle accelerating into H1 2025, driven by rising demand for premium AI-enabled workstations, the impending end of support for Windows 10, and a rebound in gaming and commercial sales.
We are also seeing Lenovo’s AI PC portfolio exceeding expectations in China, a key market for the group, and gaining substantial traction within just six months of launch. The company remains at the forefront of personal AI innovation, unveiling industry-first products at CES 2025, including the world’s first rollable AI laptop and an AI-powered gaming device compatible with both Windows OS and Steam OS, but also an expansion of its unique Aura Edition AI PCs, which bring value-added Lenovo-specific AI utility to Microsoft’s Windows 11 Copilot+ PC ecosystem.
To strengthen its AI ecosystem, Lenovo is investing in AI agent integration, multi-device connectivity, and strategic partnerships to enhance AI-powered user experiences across its product lineup. As Lenovo and its competitors intensify efforts to integrate AI into devices in 2025, consumer adoption of AI-enabled PCs will be pivotal in driving the broader market recovery, and here too, Lenovo appears to be focused on differentiation and unique value-added features.
Lenovo’s smartphone segment, for its part, maintained healthy double-digit growth, with rapid expansion in Asia-Pacific and EMEA, pushing its premium smartphone revenue mix beyond 30%. As expected, strong sales of its high-end Razr and Edge models helped strengthen momentum for the brand.
SSG Expands High-Margin Services and AI Solutions
Lenovo’s Solutions and Services Group (SSG) delivered 12% YoY revenue growth, marking 15 consecutive quarters of double-digit expansion. This was one of the highest revenue quarters we have seen yet for SSG globally, reflecting strong enterprise demand for AI-powered solutions. We note that the group’s performance continues to outpace the market, growing 2x faster than the industry average. Managed and project-based services now account for an impressive 59% of total revenue, up five percentage points YoY.
SSG continues to capitalize on AI-driven digital transformation through its popular Lenovo Hybrid AI Advantage suite. Premium-to-market growth is being further fueled by enterprise adoption of TruScale as-a-Service, Hybrid Cloud Services, and Digital Workplace Solutions. Additionally, Lenovo is expanding its AI capabilities by integrating agentic AI and hybrid AI frameworks to enhance automation and business transformation, reinforcing its position as a strategic enterprise partner. This is an area we intend to keep a close eye on as hybrid AI solutions begin to crystalize and scale across Lenovo’s increasingly attractive services ecosystem.
Tariff Uncertainty Poses a Risk to Cost Structure
Lenovo faces escalating geopolitical risks, with potential 10-25% US tariffs on imports threatening to impact its cost structure. Despite manufacturing diversification across nine countries, 80% of its production remains in China, leaving it exposed to tariff friction and other trade-related disruptions potentially triggered by the incoming US administration. The company’s ODM+ model, which integrates both in-house and outsourced manufacturing, enhances flexibility in adapting to shifting trade policies, however.
While US-bound AI servers are primarily produced in Mexico, potential tariff implications on Mexican exports add an additional layer of uncertainty. Given that Lenovo’s current AI hardware falls within allowed performance thresholds for AI chips, the risk of disruption from AI semiconductor exports should be minimal for the company.
CEO Yuanqing Yang highlighted Lenovo’s global manufacturing presence and perhaps equally important, its operational agility, highlighting the company’s ability to navigate cost pressures and potential supply chain friction quickly and with little-to-no impact on profitability.
Looking ahead
Lenovo’s hybrid AI strategy is expected to sustain its growth trajectory, with ISG and SSG playing central roles in the new model’s long-term expansion. The AI server investment cycle remains a strong tailwind, while the Windows 11 PC refresh cycle and increasing demand for premium AI-enabled devices are expected to continue to drive IDG growth. Notably, the company’s revenue mix is evolving, with non-PC revenue rising to 46%, up more than four percentage points YoY. This helps validate Lenovo’s strategic shift toward high-margin infrastructure, enterprise services, and AI-powered solutions.
Geopolitical risks – particularly potential US tariffs on China-produced PCs and to a lesser extent, AI chip export restrictions – could exert unwanted pressure on margins, but Lenovo’s ODM+ model and global manufacturing footprint could provide sufficient cost flexibility and operational agility to absorb any negative impacts better than its competitors.
Read the full release from Lenovo here.
Daniel Newman and his co-host of The Six Five Webcast, Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights and Strategy discusses Lenovo’s earnings in their latest episode. Check it out here and be sure to subscribe to The Six Five Webcast so you never miss an episode.
Disclosure: The Futurum Group is a research and advisory firm that engages or has engaged in research, analysis, and advisory services with many technology companies, including those mentioned in this article. The author does not hold any equity positions with any company mentioned in this article.
Analysis and opinions expressed herein are specific to the analyst individually and data and other information that might have been provided for validation, not those of The Futurum Group as a whole.
Other insights from The Futurum Group:
Lenovo Q2 FY24/25 Earnings: Growth in AI Segments and Strategic Investments
Lenovo Tech World 2024: Lenovo Unleashes Hybrid AI Advantage with NVIDIA
How Lenovo’s New ThinkPad X9 Aura Editions Advance AI Features in Premium PCs
Author Information
Research Director Olivier Blanchard covers edge semiconductors and intelligent AI-capable devices for Futurum. In addition to having co-authored several books about digital transformation and AI with Futurum Group CEO Daniel Newman, Blanchard brings considerable experience demystifying new and emerging technologies, advising clients on how best to future-proof their organizations, and helping maximize the positive impacts of technology disruption while mitigating their potentially negative effects. Follow his extended analysis on X and LinkedIn.
