Chatter on Wall Street supported by media reports that Lenovo might be buying BlackBerry appears to have legs this time. The talk is not fading as BlackBerry (Nasdaq: BBRY) shares surged this week.

A rebuilt BlackBerry under John Chen just could add a great deal to Lenovo’s mobile offerings – not so much in phones but in software and services.

But the deal wouldn’t be cheap since BlackBerry has a market cap of more than $5 billion at its current share price, according to Yahoo! Finance. If Lenovo is offering $15 a share as rumored, a deal would cost some $7.5 billion – over twice the size of Lenovo’s two biggest deals announced earlier this year for Google Motorola Mobility and IBM’s x86 server business.

Lenovo still is trying to close its $2.9 billion deal for Google Motorola Mobility and is launching a new company in China focused on smartphones in that market. 

So where would BlackBerry fit in to Lenovo’s strategy? Think software, services, intellectual capital, engineering talent, executive leadership – not hardware, so much.

The company has new, well-respected leadership and is a far cry from the firm that Lenovo expressed serious interest in in 2013.

Chen, a native of Hong Kong and former top executive at Sybase, has made rapid progress in turning around BlackBerry (Nasdaq: BBRY) since taking over as the Canada-based company’s chair and CEO. BlackBerry, which has maintained an R&D operation in the Triangle, did recently release a new device.

But a recent award of more patents for videoconferencing as well as wearable devices fit into Lenovo Chairman/CEO Yang Yuanqing’s plans to make Lenovo the world’s leader in Internet-connected devices as well as PCs and smartphones. BlackBerry’s underlying strength remains is proprietary services and a bundle of intellectual property.

BlackBerry shares surged as high as $10.36 this week from a low of $8.89 on Oct. 14. Its 52-week high is $11.65.

Just a year ago, Lenovo was involved in earnest discussions to acquire BlackBerry and signed non-disclosure forms to examine its books. Reportedly, the Canadian government stepped in and nixed a deal, citing national security.

However, Lenovo overcame Chinese and U.S. government security reservations to win approval recently for the $2.1 billion buy of IBM’s x86 server business.

Lenovo also recently formed a new team focused on improving Lenovo’s security standing. A new executive for security is expected to be named in the near future.

News website Bezinga started the recent flurry of BlackBerry rumors with a report on Saturday. Citing an unnamed source, Bezinga said a deal could be announced as early as this week with Lenovo offering some $15 a share. A deal could “ultimately” get done at $18 a share, Bezinga reported.

Even at $15, Lenovo would be paying a 50-percent premium on shares.

Reuters also reported a deal might be in the works. 

Yang, meanwhile, has not taken his foot off the throttle as Lenovo continues rapid growth worldwide.

Note this comment head made when the IBM deal closed: 

“To keep our momentum, we need to keep finding new growth engines, and new ways to evolve our business,” he said. “PC was the first growth engine that launched Lenovo as a global leader, and it remains our core business. Now adding mobile, enterprise and ecosystem, we are prepared to ignite our second stage rocket, and drive Lenovo even higher, even faster.”

Lenovo operates its global executive headquarters in Morrisville.