As you may or may not know, I work for Lenovo, the largest PC maker in the world. A few years back, they made several high-cost acquisitions. Specifically, Motorola’s Mobility Division (cellphones) and IBM’s x86 Server Group.
The total investment was somewhere approximating $6 billion dollars.
When Lenovo made these moves, they put stakes in the ground in North America. They moved into one large office in Austin, Texas, to support Motorola. And they opened a second US campus – right here in the heart of North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park (RTP).
And it’s this campus I actually want to write about today.
If you’ve ever driven down Davis Drive through RTP, you’ve probably noticed the two towering buildings shining against the face of a nearby lake.
It’s something of a glorious sight, especially at dusk.
But for a long time – approximately six years – these buildings had been vacant. Since the recession began – since the rise and fall of another tech giant – they had been stoic reminders to all those tens of thousands of tech and biotech commuters who drove by on their way to work.
This prominently-visible, moss-eaten, abandoned campus was a manifestation of our country’s troubles. Their graying faces managed to say, prolifically, silently, what people would not dare to. “All is not well. The world is falling apart. Businesses are failing.”
For years I drove by those buildings, and for years, I heard their message – and I knew others must feel the same. I worked at an econ dev nonprofit at the time, and helping to find new tenants for these facilities became my own personal albatross. My own way to defy the economic downturn.
When rumors of Lenovo’s x86 acquisition came to light, I was ready. I lept. I notified my superiors of the opportunity -- and people well above my pay-grade began conversations about where those thousands of recently-minted Lenovo employees would be moving to. And in less than a month, the deal was announced.
The campus on the lake was vacant no more.
Lenovo came in. Cleaned the muck out of the lake. Polished the buildings up. Put out new signage. Threw the doors open. And started aggressively hiring.
The sight of the investment stirred something in me. It was the same feeling I had when Red Hat and Citrix erected their new buildings in downtown Raleigh; and when cranes started filling the skyline in Durham.
Someone was putting the lights back on.
I decided right then and there, if I wanted to work anywhere in the private sector, it would be at Lenovo.
At the time of this decision, I was at the pinnacle of my career, interviewing at places like Amazon and Google. But it was Lenovo I chose.
Why?
Because the lights were back on – and I could see them from my own back yard.
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PS: Shameless plug, but did you know Lenovo makes servers? Check them out here. And if you happen to be in RTP, come by our shiny buildings and see them in person (ping emonday@lenovo.com for help setting up a tour).