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After weeks of speculation that Lenovo was set to acquire Fujitsu’s PC business, the companies have announced that a merger of sorts is set to go ahead.
The press statement says that the companies are exploring a “strategic cooperation in the realm of research, development, design and manufacturing of personal computers”, though precise details are still being worked on.
Earlier this year, Fujitsu’s PC division – Fujitsu Client Computing Limited (FCCL) – was spun off in an effort to limit the impact of the loss-making branch of the company. The company had been considering a number of options for taking FCCL forward, and has now settled on Lenovo.
The statement noted Lenovo’s intentions to grow its PC business. Declining sales has seen its closest rival HP now in a very close second place to Lenovo in terms of PC sales. In spite of Lenovo’s need to keep up with the rapid progress of HP, it stated that the Fujitsu brand is going nowhere. While the PCs might have Lenovo components on the inside, they will still have Fujitsu on the box
“Fujitsu will continue to offer a high-quality, innovative and reliable Fujitsu branded PC portfolio, related after-sales support to customers, and channel partners worldwide," read the statement.
This is not the end of the story however. The potential for further deals to be agreed upon are definitely on the table as “Fujitsu and Lenovo will continue their discussion in pursuit of a mutually beneficial collaboration”.
The Development Bank of Japan is also involved in the discussions and is set to provide financial support for the move.
Given the announcement of this deal, the likelihood of a final deal being confirmed in the near future is fairly high.
