Fujitsu's president Tatsuya Tanaka says his company hopes to sign a PC business merger agreement with China's Lenovo before March 31, 2017, which is the end of Fujitsu's financial year.

Tanaka made the remarks during a media interview widely circulated on Chinese websites.

Prior to this, rumors floated that Fujitsu and Lenovo were discussing a deal in PC design and manufacturing.

Tanaka also said that information security will become the core of its information technology business. Over the next three years, Fujitsu plans to invest USD869 million in IT security research and development. With the cooperation of the two parties, Lenovo will focus on Fujitsu's PC business, while Fujitsu can focus on enterprise IT services.

With the emergence of smartphones and tablets, the traditional PC market has gradually eroded and the number of Japanese PC makers has been decreasing. Traditional Japanese PC makers like Sony and Toshiba previously announced plans to also to withdraw from the PC market because more people use mobile devices. In recent years, Fujitsu's PC business also suffered difficulties.

Once Lenovo acquires Fujitsu's PC business, the Chinese PC maker may keep the Fujitsu brand.

By forming a partnership with Fujitsu, Lenovo will further expand its market share in the PC sector. Lenovo previously made several deals in the PC market, including acquiring IBM's PC business in 2005 and establishing a PC joint venture with NEC in 2011.