Lenovo closes purchase of IBM’s x86 server business

China's leading PC computer maker Lenovo Group Ltd announced Monday that it would close an acquisition of IBM's x86 server business on Wednesday for a purchase price of approximately $2.1 billion, an important move for the company to step into the global server market.

The acquisition will make Lenovo "the third-largest player in the $42.1 billion global x86 server market," according to a press release from Lenovo and IBM e-mailed to the Global Times.

Lenovo noted that it is buying IBM's x86 server business intact and is committed to following the IBM x86 product roadmap, including Flex and x86-based PureFlex integrated systems.

IBM will continue to provide maintenance delivery on Lenovo's behalf for an extended period of time, said Lenovo, without specifying a period.

The acquisition will enable Lenovo to extend its "capabilities in enterprise hardware and services," and make it "a strong number three in the global server market," Yang Yuanqing, chairman and CEO of Lenovo said in the press release.

The acquisition by Lenovo is an important step for the PC maker to extend its business globally, Xiang Ligang, president of cctime.com, a telecommunication news portal, told the Global Times. "It will be a new engine for Lenovo following its PC business."

Despite the fact that IBM's x86 server is low-end server, the acquisition, "which is just beginning for Lenovo to set foot in the server sector, will enable Lenovo to win more business clients globally," Xiang noted.

Lenovo acquired IBM's PC business, including the ThinkPad line of PCs, in 2005.

Some observers were quoted by Reuters as saying that they "expected the deal would take longer to close because of uncertainty about how US regulators might respond to a Chinese company buying a server business during a time of cyber-security tensions between the US and China."

But Lenovo said that its transaction "satisfied regulatory requirements and conditions, including clearance by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US."