Lenovo’s AI Offensive: Cooling Chips, Stadium Tech, and a Record $83 Billion Year

Lenovo shares more than double after record $83.1B revenue, AI sales surge 84%, and partnerships in cooling tech and stadium fan engagement signal new growth engines.

Lenovo shares have more than doubled this year, gaining 156% since January, to trade around €2.70 on Friday. The stock now sits just 9% below its 52-week high of €2.96, hit on 1 June, as investors digest a torrent of AI-related deals and a set of record financial results that have underpinned the rally.

The latest catalyst comes from an unlikely corner: cooling technology. Frore Systems has partnered with Lenovo to integrate its AirJet Mini, a solid-state cooling chip that dissipates 7.5 watts of heat – 50% more than its predecessor – into the company’s notebooks. The chip, which contains no moving parts, is critical for high-performance AI laptops that generate intense thermal loads. Already lauded at Computex and CES, the AirJet Mini has yet to produce a concrete revenue contribution, but the partnership strengthens Lenovo’s position in the premium AI PC segment.

On the same day that Frore Systems announced the tie-up, Lenovo unveiled a very different kind of AI application – inside Newcastle United’s St. James’ Park stadium. Working with Invisionary Media and Intel, the company installed a fan-engagement platform where supporters can use gesture control to save penalties against captain Bruno Guimarães or try on official replica kits via AI-powered virtual dressing rooms, all powered by Lenovo’s ThinkStation P5. The system also collects visitor flow and demographic data, allowing clubs and sponsors to tie engagement directly to revenue. For Lenovo, it opens a pathway to recurring income beyond hardware sales.

That stadium deal is part of a broader push into sports technology. Lenovo already counts FIFA, Formula 1, and the Dallas Cowboys among its clients, and in March it expanded a multi-year collaboration with NVIDIA to deploy AI solutions for the sports industry at scale. The global sports technology market is projected to grow from $23 billion in 2025 to more than $60 billion by 2030 – a prize Lenovo is determined to capture early.

The expansion is backed by the strongest balance sheet in the company’s history. Lenovo closed its fiscal year with record revenue of $83.1 billion, a 20% increase year-on-year. Adjusted net income jumped 42% to $2 billion, while operating profit rose 51% to $3.26 billion. The fourth quarter alone set an all-time high with group revenue of $21.6 billion, up 27% and the fastest pace of growth in five years. Operating profit in that quarter doubled to $559 million.

AI-related revenue surged 84% to account for 38% of total sales. The Infrastructure Solutions Group, which houses AI-optimised servers and GPU systems, ended the year with a $21 billion order pipeline and more than 5,800 active AI deployments with customers. Lenovo remains the world’s top PC maker with a 24.4% market share, and its Neptune liquid cooling business posted a 300% revenue jump. The company is already shipping early GB300 NVL72 rack systems, with NVIDIA Rubin-based platforms expected in the second half of this year.

But the rosy picture has its cracks. Morgan Stanley has warned of “chipflation”: memory chip prices have sextupled over the past 12 months, squeezing margins for hardware manufacturers. IDC flags a possible slowdown in PC and smartphone demand toward the end of 2026. Lenovo’s next GPU platform, built on NVIDIA’s Rubin architecture, will have to prove that margin levels can hold despite rising component costs.

Shareholders are being offered a slice of the record year. The annual general meeting on 23 July will vote on a dividend of 33.7 HK cents per share, with an ex-date of 5 August. Institutional investors appear confident: on 4 June, two block trades worth around 232,000 and 222,000 shares were executed at HK$25.12, signalling sustained demand from big buyers.

At a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.9, Lenovo trades above its fair value of 17.7 but well below the Asian tech sector average of 23.3 and its direct competitors’ multiple of 75.8. CEO Yuanqing Yang has set an ambitious target of turning Lenovo into a $100 billion company within two years – a goal that hinges on relentless AI demand. Any spike in chip costs or a pullback in corporate spending could quickly derail those plans. The AGM later this month will offer a clearer view of whether the optimism among large investors is justified.