A Japanese media report on Saturday said Lenovo was in talks with Sony to create a joint venture in which it would take over Sony’s Vaio business outside of Japan. Sony quickly issued a denial but also said it continues to “address various options” for its PC business.

Lenovo has yet to comment on the report. An attempt to reached a Lenovo spokesperson in Morrisville, where the company maintains its executive headquarters, was unsuccessful.

Sony deemed the report from broadcaster NHK significant enough that it issued a formal denial.

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The statement follows:

“A press report on February 1, 2014 stated that Sony Corporation (“Sony”) is discussing with Lenovo Group (“Lenovo”) the possible establishment of a joint venture for the PC business. As Sony has announced previously, Sony continues to address various options for the PC business, but the press report on a possible PC business alliance between Sony and Lenovo is inaccurate.”

Sony is due to issue its latest earnings report this week and has acknowledged that its PC unit is operating at a loss, Reuters noted.

Some media organizations were perplexed by the tone of Sony’s denial.

“In you your correspondent’s experience, denials of this vehemence are rather unusual,” wrote Simon Sharwood at The Register, a U.K. technology news site. “Denials of this vehemence issued on a Saturday rarer still, even for a Japanese company whose stock could be trading in the USA on Friday during Japan’s weekend.”

Lenovo struck a deal with NEC to form a joint venture for PCs in Japan in 2011 to form the largest computer venture in Japan.

Reuters and other media picked up the NHK report and circulated it internationally.

Lenovo already is the world’s No. 1 PC seller.

In the past two weeks, the company has commited more than $5 billion to non-PC deals involving a commitment to acquire a portion of IBM’s server business and Google’s Motorola Mobility mobile phone business.

[LENOVO ARCHIVE: Check out eight years of Lenovo stories as reported in WRALTechWire.]