On September 19, 2026, the official groundbreaking ceremony for the "Zhou Guangzhao Building" at the School of the Gifted Young, University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), was held. The building is personally funded and named by Yang Yuanqing, Chairman and CEO of Lenovo Group, USTC Board Member, and an alumnus of the 1989 Computer Science Department class.
Key leaders attending the ceremony included Yang Yuanqing, USTC Party Secretary Shu Gequn, President Chang Jin, Vice President and Party Committee Standing Member Deng Jiansong, and Dean of the School of the Gifted Young Lu Zhengtian. Representatives from Lenovo Group, PowerChina, the Hefei Key Project Construction Administration Bureau, relevant USTC departments, and faculty and student representatives from the School of the Gifted Young also participated.
At the ceremony, Yang Yuanqing, alongside Shu Gequn and Chang Jin, jointly wielded shovels to lay the first soil for the building. From the alumnus's donation to the groundbreaking, this building, which carries the educational mission of the gifted youth program and the deep expectations of alumni, has entered a new construction phase.
According to the plan, the Zhou Guangzhao Building will integrate teaching, academic exchange, and research functions. It will serve the faculty and students of the School of the Gifted Young and, upon completion, will provide enhanced space and conditions for cultivating talent in fundamental and interdisciplinary frontier disciplines. In the future, the building will form the core area of USTC's East Campus centered around Guo Moruo Square, together with the library and the First and Second Teaching Buildings.
In his remarks, Yang Yuanqing stated that donating the Zhou Guangzhao Building is both a way to give back to his alma mater and an expression of his deep expectations for the gifted youth students. He noted that USTC's gifted youth program not only carries the intellectual dreams of young students who have not yet reached college entrance examination age but also embodies the pursuit of national rejuvenation and prosperity. As the saying goes, "If the youth are wise, the country will be wise; if the youth are strong, the country will be strong."
He emphasized that we are currently in an era where artificial intelligence is resetting the underlying logic of research, industry, and even the entire social structure. The demand for original innovation capability, interdisciplinary perspectives, and long-term perseverance has never been more urgent. He expressed hope that the Zhou Guangzhao Building would create better conditions for the gifted youth to grow, allowing them to be driven by curiosity, fostering cross-disciplinary integration, and supporting young people to grow steadily and find directions worthy of long-term commitment.
In his speech, Shu Gequn first expressed sincere gratitude to alumnus Yang Yuanqing and Lenovo Group for their long-standing support of the university's development. He stated that the Zhou Guangzhao Building is established for talent cultivation and stands for scientific spirit. What it carries is not just a teaching and research space, but also a responsibility to cultivate talents needed by the nation for the future. The university will not only build the Zhou Guangzhao Building well but also utilize it effectively, making it a true venue for promoting the spirit of scientists, an important platform for deepening talent cultivation reforms, and a home for young students to pursue their scientific dreams.
He added that USTC's solid foundation in basic research and its educational traditions provide crucial support for young students to build strong foundations and explore frontiers. The completion of the Zhou Guangzhao Building is not just an expansion of teaching and research facilities, but also a future-oriented vision that allows breakthroughs in basic research to better serve the nation's frontier technology development.
Continuous investment is building the foundation for the growth of top-tier talent. Cultivating world-class scientists and leaders in fundamental and interdisciplinary frontier fields is the original mission of USTC's School of the Gifted Young. Grounded in the university's profound strengths in basic disciplines, the school's talent cultivation emphasizes both solid academic foundations and stimulating young people's curiosity and creativity. The construction of the Zhou Guangzhao Building will provide new support for this educational mission.
From establishing the "USTC Yang Yuanqing Education Fund" in 2017, to supporting the alma mater's public health research in 2020, to donating RMB 200 million in 2023 specifically for the construction of the School of the Gifted Young building, Yang Yuanqing's support for his alma mater has spanned nearly a decade. The 2023 donation set a record for the largest single personal donation from an alumnus in USTC's history. While the focus of each donation has varied, Yang Yuanqing has consistently concentrated on basic research and top-tier talent cultivation, demonstrating long-term commitment to supporting his alma mater's scientific and educational endeavors.
Zhou Guangzhao (1929-2024) was an outstanding Chinese scientist, a senior academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and a recipient of the "Two Bombs, One Satellite" Meritorious Service Medal. He served as President and Party Secretary of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Honorary Chairman and former Chairman of the China Association for Science and Technology, and Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Ninth National People's Congress. He served as Honorary President of USTC from 1998 onward.
The new building for the School of the Gifted Young was previously named the "Zhou Guangzhao Building" to pay tribute to this scientific giant and to carry forward his spirit of "rigorous pragmatism, bold innovation, integration of theory and practice, application to the world, nurturing future scholars, and selfless mentorship."
Yang Yuanqing remarked that a university's most valuable asset is not funding or buildings, but the spirit of ceaseless upward and deep exploration passed down through generations. He looks forward to the completion of the Zhou Guangzhao Building, hoping this spirit will gain new space for future-oriented exploration, allowing students to pursue basic research with more composure, engage in bolder interdisciplinary collisions, and ultimately go where artificial intelligence and basic science need them most.
This future-oriented educational expectation also echoes Yang Yuanqing's long-standing experience in the technology industry. After graduating from USTC's Department of Computer Science, Yang Yuanqing joined Lenovo and led the company's transformation from a "PC manufacturer" into a global leader in the AI ecosystem, covering computing infrastructure, smart devices, and industry solutions.
From the popularization of personal computers to the accelerated application of artificial intelligence, he has witnessed the process of technology moving toward large-scale implementation and has continuously faced new demands for innovation capability and talent reserves brought by technological change. In recent years, Lenovo has advanced its hybrid AI strategy, conducting research and application practices in areas such as personal AI and enterprise AI, promoting AI adoption in manufacturing, energy, transportation, and retail industries.
From computing power supply to terminal applications to complex problems in industry scenarios, the development of artificial intelligence increasingly requires collaboration across different professional knowledge domains, and places higher demands on talents' abilities to understand problems, connect disciplines, and sustain innovation. These industrial changes further highlight the value of cultivating talent in fundamental and interdisciplinary frontier fields.
Artificial intelligence is expanding the tools and methods of scientific research, but transforming new technological conditions into original breakthroughs still requires researchers to possess deep professional foundations, independent scientific judgment, and patience for long-term investment in important problems. The original mission of the School of the Gifted Young to cultivate top scientists and leaders is closely connected to the needs of this era.
Starting from Hefei, a hotbed of technological innovation, and from the fertile ground of the gifted youth program, this building connects the depth of basic research with the height of future talent. Yang Yuanqing stated that what determines a building's height is not its bricks and mortar, but the people who walk out of it and their spirit. He looks forward to looking back years from now and seeing that many important breakthroughs and key figures in technological progress share a common starting point: the Zhou Guangzhao Building.