Then called Legend, today’s leading computer manufacturer Lenovo was founded by eleven engineers in Beijing on 1 November 1984. In 2012 Lenovo beat former world leader Hewlett-Packard by volume of unit sales.

The name Legend was changed after 20 years: “Le” refers to the original Legend brand while “Novo” means new. The name had to be changed as one of the founders, Yang Yuanqing planned to expand the activities of the firm outside China, but the brand name Legend was already widely used by various companies all over the world. A year later the company, practically unknown outside the People’s Republic of China, acquired IBM’s PC division for 1.27 billion dollars, and eventually became world famous after the purchase.

Lenovo was the official sponsor of the 2006 winter Olympic Games in Torino, Italy and the 2008 summer Olympic Games in Beijing ? key symbolic milestones in Lenovo history. Currently Lenovo is the "Official Laptop, Desktop and Workstation Sponsor" to the National Football League (NFL) in the United States.