Lenovo, a China-based, world-caliber brand of notebook PCs, will set up an R& D center in Taiwan and increase its procurement from Taiwanese suppliers in the future, according to Ma Jianrong, Lenovo's director of government affairs division, according to local news agencies.

Mai said that Taiwan is one of Lenovo's most important production arms in the world, and the brand spends an annual average of US$ 4-5 billion on procuring various PCs and related peripherals made on the island of Taiwan in recent years, with a number of local companies, like Wistron Corp., the third-largest notebook PC maker in the world, on its supplier list. To further take advantage of Taiwan PC maker's R&D capability, Lenovo is going to establish an R&D center in Taiwan.

Ma is also quoted to mention that Chinese enterprises have keen interest in making cross-investments with Taiwan companies, with some already taking actions. With the cross-straight relations between Mailand China and Taiwan continuing to improve, she added that Lenovo will definetly step up investments in Taiwan partners.

Presently, Lenovo is headquartered in New York and ahs two operatgional centers, with one each in Peking and North Carolina. The brand also establishes several R&D centers in China, Japan and the U.S.

Although already having an operational office in the Taipei 101 Tower, the brand if attempting tp boost its profits in Taiwan Taiwan market and compete against rivals in the world, will have to reinforce cooperation with world-caliber companies in the IT industry to work out competitive products, according to industry insiders.