text: Lenovo Connect At the Mobile World Congress in 2016, Lenovo introduced Lenovo Connect, a wireless roaming service. This service works across devices, networks, and borders for customers in China and EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa). Lenovo Connect eliminates the need to buy new SIM cards when crossing borders. Lenovo Connect started service for phones and select ThinkPad laptops in China in February 2016.
  Operations
  Lenovo's principal facilities are in Beijing, Singapore, and Morrisville, North Carolina, United States, with research centres in Beijing, Singapore, Morrisville, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Xiamen, Chengdu, Nanjing, Wuhan and Yamato (Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan). Lenovo operates manufacturing facilities in Chengdu and Hefei in China, and in Japan. A  global flagship opened in Beijing in February 2013.
  Lenovo's manufacturing operations are a departure from the usual industry practice of outsourcing to contract manufacturers. Lenovo instead focuses on vertical integration in order to avoid excessive reliance on original equipment manufacturers and to keep down costs. Speaking on this topic, Yang Yuanqing said, "Selling PCs is like selling fresh fruit. The speed of innovation is very fast, so you must know how to keep up with the pace, control inventory, to match supply with demand and handle very fast turnover." Lenovo benefited from its vertical integration after flooding affected hard-drive manufacturers in Thailand in 2011, as the company could continue manufacturing operations by shifting production towards products for which hard drives were still available.