In 1984, Lenovo was founded by Liu and 10 other researchers he worked with, using an initial capital of 200,000 yuan provided by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The small computer company achieved a sales volume of 3 million yuan just one year after its establishment. Afterwards in 1986 and 1987, it made astonishing sales volumes of 18 million yuan and 70 million yuan respectively. He said: "I thought at the time that only cutting-edge IT technology could help China get rid of poverty."