Exhibitors were unified yesterday in applauding the decision to cancel June's Computex Taipei computer show, saying the meet will fare better after fears about the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) have abated.
"We think it's a good decision to postpone Computex," said Alan Pan (
Tatung normally books a large exhibition space on the ground floor of the Taipei International Convention Center.
The show was axed Wednesday after a poll by the organizers, the China External Trade Development Council (CETRA) and the Taipei Computer Association, showed that less than 10 percent of exhibitors were in favor of going ahead with this year's show. And with SARS fears going well beyond exhibition halls, manufacturers heaved a sigh of relief.
"We're concerned about the public's health, so we support this decision," said Stephanie Tsai (蔡瓊文), senior public relations manager at computer-display maker ViewSonic International Corp.
"We originally wanted to take part in Computex, but when surveyed we suggested that CETRA cancel this year's show," said Alex Hsieh (謝博明), a marketing manager at industrial computer manufacturer ICP Electronics Inc (威達電).
Companies yesterday played down potential losses as a result of the rescheduling of Asia's largest computer trade show.
"The impact on our business operations will be minimal [as a result of the postponement] as our customer base has been established for a long time and we are using videoconferencing, which our customers feel is a good contingency plan," Pan said.
Computex normally offers Tatung strong product exposure with potential new clients from overseas and if it took place at the beginning of next month as planned, fears over SARS would seriously reduce the number of foreign visitors.
"In the present climate, Computex would not be a very good marketing prospect," Pan said.
"This impacts all businesses, not just ours," said Tsai. "We had some special offers that we wanted to introduce to our channels at Computex. We will still offer them, but directly now."
Visitors from China were expected to make up a large part of the overseas visitors to Computex this year, many looking to tie up with Taiwanese companies in manufacturing ventures across the Taiwan Strait.
A compulsory 10-day quarantine imposed on visitors from seriously affected SARS areas like China and Hong Kong would have hampered Computex, leading to the decision to put off this year's show. Companies like industrial computer maker ICP are not dependent on buyers.
"We will feel very little impact from the decision to postpone Computex as our manufacturing is here in Taiwan and all our customers are in Europe and America," said Hsieh.
The Board of Foreign Trade has suggested companies burn their most recent catalogs onto disks and send them to potential customers after the show was canceled. In addition, local telecommunications provider, Chunghwa Telecom (
Exhibitors scorned the idea yesterday.
"The quality, not the cost, of conference calls, is important," Pan said. "We'll pay for a premium service."
The government decision was nothing new, Hsieh said. "We already send our catalogs on disk to clients and use e-mail and telephone calls as much as possible," said Hsieh. "This is not a new suggestion."
Delaying Computex until fall may lead to companies bailing out of the show altogether.
"A show in September or October is too close to Comdex Fall in Las Vegas," Pansaid . "We might decide not to go to Computex in that case."
Comdex Fall is held annually in Las Vegas in November.
DECOUPLING? In a sign of deeper US-China technology decoupling, Apple has held initial talks about using Baidu’s generative AI technology in its iPhones, the Wall Street Journal said China has introduced guidelines to phase out US microprocessors from Intel Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) from government PCs and servers, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The procurement guidance also seeks to sideline Microsoft Corp’s Windows operating system and foreign-made database software in favor of domestic options, the report said. Chinese officials have begun following the guidelines, which were unveiled in December last year, the report said. They order government agencies above the township level to include criteria requiring “safe and reliable” processors and operating systems when making purchases, the newspaper said. The US has been aiming to boost domestic semiconductor
Nvidia Corp earned its US$2.2 trillion market cap by producing artificial intelligence (AI) chips that have become the lifeblood powering the new era of generative AI developers from start-ups to Microsoft Corp, OpenAI and Google parent Alphabet Inc. Almost as important to its hardware is the company’s nearly 20 years’ worth of computer code, which helps make competition with the company nearly impossible. More than 4 million global developers rely on Nvidia’s CUDA software platform to build AI and other apps. Now a coalition of tech companies that includes Qualcomm Inc, Google and Intel Corp plans to loosen Nvidia’s chokehold by going
ENERGY IMPACT: The electricity rate hike is expected to add about NT$4 billion to TSMC’s electricity bill a year and cut its annual earnings per share by about NT$0.154 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has left its long-term gross margin target unchanged despite the government deciding on Friday to raise electricity rates. One of the heaviest power consuming manufacturers in Taiwan, TSMC said it always respects the government’s energy policy and would continue to operate its fabs by making efforts in energy conservation. The chipmaker said it has left a long-term goal of more than 53 percent in gross margin unchanged. The Ministry of Economic Affairs concluded a power rate evaluation meeting on Friday, announcing electricity tariffs would go up by 11 percent on average to about NT$3.4518 per kilowatt-hour (kWh)
OPENING ADDRESS: The CEO is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence at the trade show’s opening on June 3, TAITRA said Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) chairperson and chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) is to deliver the opening keynote speech at Computex Taipei this year, the event’s organizer said in a statement yesterday. Su is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing (HPC) in the artificial intelligence (AI) era to open Computex, one of the world’s largest computer and technology trade events, at 9:30am on June 3, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said. Su is to explore how AMD and the company’s strategic technology partners are pushing the limits of AI and HPC, from data centers to