The fiftieth TOP500 list of the fastest supercomputers in the world has China overtaking the US in the total number of ranked systems by a margin of 202 to 143. It is the largest number of supercomputers China has ever claimed on the TOP500 ranking, with the US presence shrinking to its lowest level since the list's inception 25 years ago.

Just six months ago, the US led with 169 systems, with China coming in at 160. Despite the reversal of fortunes, the 143 systems claimed by the US gives them a solid second place finish, with Japan in third place with 35, followed by Germany with 20, France with 18, and the UK with 15.

Fujitsu Limited ("Fujitsu") (TSE: 6702), Lenovo Group Limited ("Lenovo") (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) and Development Bank of Japan Inc. ("DBJ") today announced a strategic collaboration that creates a joint venture between the three companies. The joint venture will focus on the research, development, design, manufacturing and sales of Client Computing Devices (CCD) for the global PC market.

Fujitsu will sell a 51% stake in its wholly owned subsidiary Fujitsu Client Computing Limited ("FCCL") to Lenovo and a 5% stake to DBJ. After the transaction, FCCL will become a joint venture company ("JV") owned by Fujitsu, Lenovo and DBJ and will continue to be known as Fujitsu Client Computing Limited.

Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) today announced at the Microsoft Ignite conference, a new device to tackle conference room complexities and help companies embrace the digital transformation of modern workspaces. The Lenovo ThinkSmart Hub 500 is a Skype Room Systems device that manages collaboration within modern meeting rooms. With the ability to simply connect remote and local participants to Skype for Business meetings and shared content, it eliminates the hassle of sharing personal laptop screens and messing about with cables. Developed in cooperation with Microsoft, the Smart Hub 500 is an all-in-one device, with a 360-degree rotatable 11.6-inch display and runs Microsoft Windows 10 IoT Enterprise.

The Smarter Office is Today
The continuing evolution of technology and the focus on digital transformation brings smarter devices to enable improved collaboration spaces and meeting environments. 92% of businesses are planning Workplace Transformation Initiatives (WTI) to build smart offices that enhance individual and collaborative work experiences for local and remote users. The exponential growth of smarter offices creates opportunities for hardware and software vendors, resellers and systems integrators as customers look to fuel investments into WTI.

Lenovo's take on the Windows Mixed Reality platform, which we covered a few days ago as featuring Steam VR support and a still-in-its-infancy Halo VR experience, has just been named. The Explorer MR will set you back $349 for just the headset, or $449 for the headset plus a pair of 6-DoF (Degrees of Freedom) controllers.

Lenovo didn't say how much the Explorer HMD weighs, but the usual "comfortable and lightweight," and "finely tuned for perfect balance" have been mentioned. A flip-flop visor allows you to quickly remove the dual 1440x1440 displays from your face, should you need an emergency look at the real world around you. The Lenovo Explorer features inside-out spatial tracking, just like the other Windows MR devices, with two front-mounted cameras handling environment tracking. Trackable space on the Explorer should be around 3.5 x 3.5 meters, likely constrained by the fact that the HMD is tethered via USB and HDMI (tethering that is par-of-the-course for this VR generation.) Specs still haven't been finalized, but pricing is, so we shouldn't look to any substantial differences between the announced and final specifications.

Building on the global enthusiasm generated by the launch of Ryzen high-end desktop processors and EPYC server processors for the datacenter, AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) today announced broad adoption of enterprise solutions featuring AMD Ryzen PRO desktop processors. Designed for business, Ryzen PRO processors bring reliability, security, and performance to address the demands of today's compute-intensive enterprise-focused workloads. Commercially-focused desktop solutions based on these new processors are expected to be available from Dell, HP, and Lenovo in the coming weeks.

"Today's business PC users require more processing power than ever before to run increasingly demanding applications, to ensure they can multi-task without disruption, and to help protect against security threats," said Jim Anderson, senior vice president and general manager, Computing and Graphics Group, AMD. "Ryzen PRO is designed to address these needs, and we're proud to collaborate with such a strong set of industry leaders on a robust assortment of AMD-based desktop PCs that showcase the strength and flexibility of the Ryzen PRO platform."

Intel rigorously defends its hold over its core intellectual property, the x86 CPU machine-architecture. AMD is the only active licencee of x86, and has a competitive line of processors across market segments. It has been a long-cherished dream of chipmakers without an x86 license to have Microsoft, the world's leading PC operating system manufacturer, somehow emulate their Win32 API, which is inherently designed for the x86 architecture, on the more widely licensed ARM architecture. As one of the largest ARM chipmakers, Qualcomm pushed for 2-in-1 (notebook-to-tablet) convertible PCs driven by its Snapdragon processors, which run Windows 10, complete with support for Win32 software, besides Microsoft's UWP apps.

This Snapdragon + Windows 10 reference convertible is so impressive with its battery life and performance, that major PC OEMs such as Lenovo, HP, and ASUS have lined up to license the design and make their own designs. This would have been a licensable form-factor governed by Microsoft, much like how Intel governed the Ultrabook form-factor. This would hit hard at Intel's bottomline, because SoC makers with big R&D budgets like Qualcomm, Samsung, and NVIDIA, who each hold ARM licenses, could go on to power bigger and faster PCs which emulate x86, driving Intel out of the ecosystem. The company dropped the hammer earlier this week, in a passive-aggressive note without taking names, warning Microsoft and Qualcomm to cease from their efforts to build such a device.

Remember that piece regarding Microsoft's Windows 10 for the chinese government? Well, Microsoft has just officially announced it in its Shanghai presentation today. In a joint-venture with China's government, CETC (China Electronics Technology Group), CMIT (a conglomerate of China-based manufacturers), and Lenovo, the Redmond-based company has apparently managed to deliver what they themselves thought impossible: a version of their operating system that doesn't spy on its users. Lenovo, as you might have guessed already, will be one of the first OEM partners to preinstall Windows 10 China Government Edition on new devices.

Based on Windows 10 Enterprise Edition, the Windows 10 China Government Edition ironically ticks all the boxes for what enthusiasts would like to see from their OS: it's a modular approach to Windows, where users (read, in this case, government entities) can remove features they aren't looking to take advantage of (like OneDrive), whilst giving the capability to "manage all telemetry and updates." Aren't those just great features to have?

Lenovo has recently released the specifications for their 2017 Thinkpad series line-up, with several models (T470p, L470, L570, T470, T570, X270 and Yoga 370) featuring the usual, evolutionary hardware improvements, such as being equipped with Intel's latest generation Kaby Lake processors and increased screen resolutions. However, one of the hardware announcements for the new Thinkpad series goes a little further than your usual, run-of-the-mill updates: these solutions will feature what is expected to be the first consumer-level adaptations of Intel's Optane technology.

A group of leading technology companies today announced the Gen-Z Consortium, an industry alliance working to create and commercialize a new scalable computing interconnect and protocol. This flexible, high-performance memory semantic fabric provides a peer-to-peer interconnect that easily accesses large volumes of data while lowering costs and avoiding today's bottlenecks. The alliance members include AMD, ARM, Cavium Inc., Cray, Dell EMC, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Huawei, IBM, IDT, Lenovo, Mellanox Technologies, Micron, Microsemi, Red Hat, Samsung, Seagate, SK hynix, Western Digital Corporation, and Xilinx.

Modern computer systems have been built around the assumption that storage is slow, persistent and reliable, while data in memory is fast but volatile. As new storage class memory technologies emerge that drive the convergence of storage and memory attributes, the programmatic and architectural assumptions that have worked in the past are no longer optimal. The challenges associated with explosive data growth, real-time application demands, the emergence of low latency storage class memory, and demand for rack scale resource pools require a new approach to data access.

AMD at the Canalys Channels Forum announced the first PCs featuring 7th Generation AMD PRO APUs (formerly codenamed "Bristol Ridge PRO"). Built for business, AMD PRO APUs deliver increased computing and graphics performance, improved energy efficiency, while providing a secure and stable platform to protect customers' IT investments.

"In the past two years we made incredible progresses in the commercial client segment. Since its inception in mid-2014, AMD PRO processor unit shipments increased more than 45 percent enabling businesses all over the world to simplify IT with secure, high performance, reliable solutions" said Jim Anderson, senior vice president and general manager, Computing and Graphics Business, AMD. "We are thrilled to have PC market leaders like HP and Lenovo expanding their use of AMD technology in their business client portfolios."

Digital freedom activists are up in arms over a discovery by Lenovo Yoga 900S and Yoga 710S users that you simply can't replace the pre-installed Windows 10 Signature Edition operating system with one of your choice, such as Linux. Redditor BaronHK tried installing Linux on their notebooks and couldn't, so a support ticket was raised with Lenovo to guide them to install Linux. Lenovo responded that the notebook features Windows 10 Signature Edition, and that "it has been locked as per Lenovo's agreement with Microsoft."

On the Yoga 900S and 710S, Lenovo deployed a proprietary soft-RAID setup that cannot be recognized by Linux installers. You can't even change the SATA controller mode in the BIOS setup program. Even Windows installations don't succeed without special F6_install drivers by Lenovo, and the company only provides drivers for Windows. Lenovo cannot argue that its hardware specifically requires Windows, because Live images of Linux, (such as Ubuntu) function just fine on these notebooks. It's just that you can't make your Live session permanent by installing Ubuntu on the device. Lenovo has since gone into full damage control and denial. It removed the thread from its support forums (view a cached copy), and even changed its explanation from "we blatantly admitted to anti-competitive practices that could cost us a billion-dollar class-action lawsuit" to "we simply don't have drivers for our deliberately unusual RAID setup."

Lenovo today launched the Yoga Book, the world's thinnest and lightest 2-in-1 tablet, designed for unmatched productivity while on-the-go. Built for mobility and to solve the most common challenge among tablet users - how to achieve productivity and entertainment in one device - the Yoga Book is a tablet that looks and acts like no other. Up until now, we've been using tablets in ways we weren't meant to: for productivity, for example, which becomes painful when typing or applying a stylus onto a touch screen that you're using on-the-go.

The Yoga Book removes that difficulty by taking the fundamental building blocks from the DNA of what makes a great tablet - namely portability, long battery life and a rich app ecosystem - and entwines it into a strand of creativity and productivity through a suite of powerful new hardware and software features, including: the instant halo keyboard, the dual-use stylus that writes on paper and screen, and the productivity-driven Book U.

Lenovo today announced the expansion of its multimode Yoga family with the new Yoga 910 convertible laptop and Yoga Tab 3 Plus Android tablet. Today's PC customer is constantly challenged by the demands of quickly evolving consumer lifestyles, an evolving workplace and digital demands. To meet this continuous shift of consumer expectations, Lenovo has built its latest Yoga products based on extensive user research and feedback. That's why each new Yoga range adds new technology, like the Yoga 910 fingerprint reader that simplifies PC log-in.

Our latest ultra-thin convertible laptop at just 14.3mm is also one of the most powerful convertibles around with up to Intel's latest 7th Gen Core i7 processor. For many Yoga users, their convertible has become the primary platform for work and entertainment. That's why we've upgraded the Yoga 910 with the choice of a new 4K or Full HD screen. Both options feature a near edgeless display (5mm bezel) that offers 10 percent4 more screen area, a 14 percent5 increase in pixel density compared to the previous model for sharper, clearer images, and 100 percent sRGB color gamut coverage for users to see a wide range of colors when viewing photos and videos. Music and sound are enhanced on the Yoga 910 with Dolby Audio Premium. With up to 15.5 hours of battery, users can work or watch movies without worrying about battery life.

AMD today announced the new Lenovo Y27f Curved Gaming Monitor, its first free-standing display incorporating AMD FreeSync technology, offering low input latency and an ultra-smooth, stutter free gaming and multimedia experience.1 With "the most extreme curve available today,"2 the 27-inch-wide, vertically aligned display provides extraordinary gaming immersion and a true-to-life viewing experience.

AMD FreeSync technology helps ensure smooth and fluid gameplay. AMD FreeSync technology enhances communication between the Lenovo Y27f Curved Gaming Monitor and an AMD FreeSync-capable GPU, allowing the display to dynamically adapt its refresh rate in alignment with the GPU's creation of new frames. This prevents tearing by ensuring no new frames are drawn during the refresh period. FreeSync also eliminates stuttering, since the refresh rate is locked to the creation of new frames. FreeSync is supported on a wide range of AMD Radeon GPUs, including the recently launched Polaris architecture-based Radeon RX Series graphics cards.

Worldwide PC shipments totaled 64.8 million units in the first quarter of 2016, a 9.6 percent decline from the first quarter of 2015, according to preliminary results by Gartner, Inc. This was the sixth consecutive quarter of PC shipment declines, and the first time since 2007 that shipment volume fell below 65 million units.

"The deterioration of local currencies against the U.S. dollar continued to play a major role in PC shipment declines. Our early results also show there was an inventory buildup from holiday sales in the fourth quarter of 2015," said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner.

Today at Mobile World Congress, Lenovo introduced two new consumer Windows 10 PCs: YOGA 710 and 5101 convertible laptops and the ideapad MIIX 310 2-in-1 detachable tablet. We recognize consumers' need to work on multiple devices for different tasks. For example, they may text on a smartphone, work on a laptop, and read on a tablet. That's why we designed each of our new devices to either convert or detach into tablet mode, so users can do more with the comfort of typing on a keyboard and the power of the latest generation of Intel processors, while giving them long battery life2 to leave the power cord at home.

We created the new 11-inch YOGA 710 for travelers and mobile workers who are productive on the road. Powered by a 6th Gen Intel Core i7 processor on the 14-inch model and up to Core m5 processor on the smaller 11-inch model, the YOGA 710 comes with Windows 10 and is one of the most powerful and portable convertible laptops available. Users can multitask seamlessly between videoconferencing, emailing and editing photos on the go. Weighing only 1.04kg, its compact size and ability to convert into a tablet make it ideal for people looking to save space in their bags.

Worldwide PC shipments totaled 71.9 million units in the fourth quarter of 2015 (4Q15), a year-on-year decline of -10.6%, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. Although total shipments were in line with already conservative expectations, the news nonetheless ended 2015 as the first year below 300 million units since 2008. The holiday quarter achieved a modest uptick compared to the third quarter, but the year-on-year decline in 2015 shipments was nevertheless the largest in history, surpassing the decline of -9.8% in 2013.

The PC market continued to face persistent challenges from longer-PC lifecycles and competition from mobile phones and tablets, despite the slowing growth in those markets. However, economic issues like falling commodity prices and weak international currencies, as well as social disruptions in EMEA and Asia/Pacific that disrupted foreign markets were a larger factor for 2015. Changes in the OS market also had a significant impact with the end of support for Windows XP and promotions of low-cost PCs driving a surge in replacements in 2014 that combined with the launch of Windows 10 and a free upgrade program to delay new system purchases in 2015. Lastly, while some very attractive new PCs have been launched, the market is taking some time to respond to new OS and hardware configurations - deciding when to upgrade and evaluating slim, convertible, detachable, and touch variations vs. more traditional PCs. Nevertheless, many of these products have received positive reviews and there's potential for a faster commercial transition to Windows 10 in 2016 than we saw for prior versions of Windows."

Today at CES, we introduced our portfolio of next gen devices: eight new laptops, desktops and monitors across our YOGA, ideapad and ideacentre brands that upgrade nearly every PC experience from work, gaming to entertaining. Leading with the YOGA 900S ultraportable convertible laptop, the new collection offers people distinct choice in performance, aesthetic and mobility.

We engineered the YOGA 900S to be beautifully slim and noticeably lighter than previous models at 12.8 mm and 999 g with a new carbon fiber construction. The Windows 10 laptop features up to 10.5 hours of video playback so travelers can slip it into their carry-on luggage and fly from Las Vegas to London on a single charge. The convertible laptop's 360-degree watchband hinge with four modes makes it easy to work through a long-haul flight in laptop mode with up to Intel Core m7 processor, or to scan social media feeds in tablet mode. It delivers an immersive entertainment experience, thanks to Dolby Audio Premium for crisp sound and optional QHD screen (2560x1440) for crystal clear resolution. New to the YOGA family, it now supports an optional active pen so artists and note-takers alike can unleash their doodles and to-do lists, or annotate webpages on the Microsoft Edge browser using the touch screen.

Lenovo today unveiled its newly expanded and highly innovative X1 portfolio. Designed for forward thinkers, the series includes new additions such as the brilliantly adaptable ThinkPad X1 Tablet with its unique modular design; the immersive ThinkPad X1 Yoga with world's first OLED display; and the award-winning ThinkPad X1 Carbon is even thinner and lighter, strengthening its superiority in the ultrabook market. Furthermore, desktop users will be wowed by the stunning new ThinkCentre X1 all-in-one, the must-have design centerpiece for any office with outstanding performance to match.

The full size ThinkPad keyboard with the iconic TrackPoint has three adjustable typing angles and recreates the classic ThinkPad keystroke feel. Keyboard and tablet together weigh just 2.4 pounds for an ultra-light laptop experience. What's more, it is the first Windows tablet with LTE Advanced support for superfast connectivity from virtually anywhere. The ThinkPad X1 Tablet also features a removable rear panel for serviceability and upgrades.

Today, at Autodesk University 2015, Lenovo unveiled the ThinkPad P40 Yoga, a high-performing mobile workstation that helps unleash the full power of professional creativity. The Lenovo ThinkPad P40 Yoga delivers a first-class digital sketching experience with the ultimate in mobile workstation performance and reliability.

From digital artists storyboarding the latest Hollywood blockbuster to engineers designing the next hot new car, creative professionals need to both sketch their designs and bring those designs to life. To do this, users typically to purchased two systems - a tablet to deliver the sensitivity and accuracy of a premium sketching experience and a mobile workstation to render designs in powerful applications.

Lenovo today unveiled the new YOGA 700, a premium Windows 10 convertible laptop with four usage modes (laptop, stand, tent, tablet) designed for performance and portability. Avid travelers who need a thin and light option will find the 11-inch YOGA 700 as the ideal travel companion, while the 14-inch option packs powerful performance for those who need additional speed and reliability. Both options come with a responsive 10-point multitouch Full HD (1920 x 1080) IPS display and Dolby DS1.0 Home Theater certified stereo speakers, allowing users to enjoy crisp visuals and clear sound whether working in a café or streaming a favorite show at home.

Ultra portable, the 11-inch YOGA 700 weighs only 1.1 kg and measures 15.8 mm thin. With up to seven hours of battery life, the YOGA 700 allows travelers to work or play their way: watch a movie in stand mode, give a business pitch in tent mode, or navigate a map in tablet mode. Suited for movie buffs and social gamers, the YOGA 700 offers a vibrant 10-point multitouch Full HD (1920 x 1080) IPS display with Dolby DS1.0 Home Theater certified stereo speakers. Whether at home or in transit, the convertible lets users enjoy sharper visuals and clearer sound without paying more for a premium multimedia experience.

AMD today introduced its most powerful line of AMD PRO A-Series mobile and desktop processors (formerly codenamed "Carrizo PRO" and "Godavari PRO") to deliver exceptional value and performance for today's challenging workloads. The new line of AMD PRO A-Series processors offer enhanced performance, reliability and opportunity to business users and IT decision makers and are designed for the future with Microsoft Windows 10. With its AMD PRO mobile processors, AMD powers some of the first-to-market Windows 10-enabled commercial notebook systems for those looking to upgrade.

"The innovative architecture of new AMD PRO processors delivers compelling performance to stay ahead of the evolving demands of business today," said Jim Anderson, senior vice president and general manager, computing and graphics, AMD. "Going PRO with AMD means unmatched dependability with platform stability, processor longevity and an opportunity for richer system configurations. AMD gives its customers choice and affordability to meet specific business needs, without compromising the ability to manage and maintain a secure, stable, and reliable environment."

Lenovo today announced the company's trio of new premium PCs and accessories designed exclusively for gamers: the Lenovo ideacentre Y900 and Y700 desktops and ideapad Y700 laptop with Windows 10. Crafted for the growing population of working gamers who now demand a powerful and stylish machine that can move with them through their life from day to play, the family of new Y series devices and accessories have been built from the ground up to serve mature gaming enthusiasts' professional and social life.

The new ideacentre Y900 and Y700 desktops look as distinct as their performance - an edgy design with internal and external red LEDs turns heads while inside the box includes extreme gaming performance and ample room for future upgrades. For mobile users, the new ideapad Y700 provides the mobility of a laptop with plenty of horsepower to swap between spreadsheets and graphics-heavy game time.

Lenovo today announced seven new desktops, laptops and tablets across its popular ideacentre and ideapad sub-brands, giving discerning shoppers multiple reasons to upgrade this holiday season. The fresh portfolio of devices include the new ideapad MIIX 700 2-in-1 tablet, new ideacentre AIO 700 desktop and five new laptops - ideapad 300 and 500 and their thinner and lighter cousins ideapad 100S, 300S and 500S.

The new ideacentre AIO 700 desktop delivers up to double the power, screen resolution and memory capacity from its three-year-old previous generation - ideal for watching videos and gaming. In addition to the performance leap, all the new devices boast state-of-the-art Lenovo design, significantly improved portability and the promise of intuitive, new technology like Windows 10 and Intel RealSense Cameras. The new trio of ideapad MIIX 700 2-in-1 tablet, ideacentre AI0 700 desktop and ideapad 500 laptop are all available with optional Intel RealSense Cameras so users can explore, discover and create new and intuitive ways to 3D game, video chat, scan and print through gesture-based computing.

Lenovo, the world leader in convertible notebooks and traditional commercial desktops, today announced a broad redesign of its ThinkPad YOGA and ThinkCentre portfolios. A recent Lenovo survey of more than 6,000 businesses suggested that security, mobility and reliability were amongst the top pain points today and more than a quarter plan to introduce convertible devices. The latest generation of thinner and lighter ThinkPad YOGA 260 and 460 convertibles and faster than ever ThinkCentre desktops have been designed to provide customers with solutions to their critical needs.

Data from the Lenovo survey showed that 53% of employees work from home at least some of the time, 61% are required to travel for business and 46% are aged between 18 and 34 years. These progressive customers are the emerging workforce and decision makers of tomorrow and actively seek leading edge technology to maintain a competitive edge. They need truly reliable and mobile devices with no compromise on performance.