Farewell to Gianfranco Lanci, the Italian who rose to the top of the global computer industry

Gianfanco Lanci, the former COO (chief operating officer) of Lenovo, died at the age of 69 from complications that arose after an operation on the vertebrae. He leaves behind his wife and 3 children.

Born in Turin on 26 September 1954; a civil engineering graduate from the Polytechnic of the Piedmontese capital, he had worked at Texas Instruments before moving to Acer, of which he had been CEO and general manager from 2005 to 2011; then he went to Lenovo, reaching the top of the Chinese multinational. After leaving the company last year, he dedicated himself to the world of wine, his passion, creating a project that links traditions, business, and the most modern vision of agriculture. He had made heavy investments, creating a group of wineries with the acquisitions of Dosio, Coppo and Villa Giada: today he manages about 80 hectares of owned vineyards in the Monferrato and Langhe territories, a UNESCO heritage site, for a total production of about 700,000 bottles a year.

Italian Tech published the last interview of Gianfranco Lanci in June 2021: he was still chief operating officer of Lenovo, but connected via Teams from his beloved Langhe. Grumpy, but capable of recognizing the value of the spurs around him, he was for the world’s leading PC manufacturer a precious link with the history of information technology, which he had experienced as a protagonist. And this filled the Italians who worked with him with pride, even more than he himself. It is worth rereading the words he said to us then, because, as always, he was able to anticipate some trends that we have seen growing over time; specifically the idea of ​​the computer-as-a-service: “The next Lenovo PC – he explained to us – you won’t buy it”.