With Lenovo reportedly talking with IBM about the the acquisition of IBM's server business, sources from the upstream supply chain pointed out that the China-based vendor has already been seeking cooperation with Taiwan-based server ODMs to establish a joint venture for the development of server-related technologies since 2012, according to sources from the upstream supply chain.

The sources pointed out that Lenovo had been looking to cooperate with industry experts to supplement its weaknesses. In 2011, Lenovo established a joint venture with Compal Electronics to strengthen its notebook manufacturing ability and in 2012, the company created a joint venture with first-tier storage product vendor EMC, targeting the enterprise datacenter market in China.

China's cloud storage user number was only about three million in 2010, but quickly rose to 23 million in 2011 and is estimated to break 400 million in 2014, showing the rapid growth of the industry, the sources noted citing figures from iResearch.

The sources believe that IBM is likely to sell only its entry-level server product line to Lenovo as its high-end models still contribute good profits. Although Lenovo already has a team of about 100 engineers for the cloud computing business, the sources expect the company will still accelerate its pace over finding an ODM partner to strengthen its competitiveness in the server industry.