Computex needs better infrastructure, BenQ head says

Taiwan will lose its place as home to the world's second-largest information-technology (IT) fair, unless the organizers manage to improve both the expo's infrastructure and the quality of its management as soon as possible, the chairman of BenQ Corp (明基電通) warned yesterday.

"Taiwan is losing its position as the host of a leading international IT fair," BenQ chairman Lee Kun-yao (李焜耀) said on the sidelines of a press conference yesterday ahead of the opening of the Computex computer show in Taipei today.

The event, which runs through Saturday, features 1,288 exhibitors in 2,853 booths, compared with 1,347 exhibitors and 2,828 booths last year, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA, 外貿協會) and the Taipei Computer Association (台北市電腦公會), the show's organizers, said in a statement. Computex is expected to draw 27,500 overseas buyers this year, up from 26,222 foreign visitors last year, the organizers said.

"Quantity does not necessarily translate into quality," Lee said.

He said that the exhibition hall's facilities and the trade show's management, as well as the traffic arrangements, all need to be improved.

As the nation's heavyweight contract manufacturers have already established close ties with the world's leading IT vendors, Computex is likely to benefit only smaller original design manufacturers (ODMs) and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), Lee said.

As a brandname company that has grown strong through collaboration with overseas distributors, BenQ is participating in Computex just to build up its brand image and maintain a presence; it does not expect to secure major new orders at the show, Lee said.

In response, TAITRA said that it is aware of the problems created by the limited exhibition space and the fact that the infrastructure is in need of refurbishment.

"We are sorry [about the complaints] ... but there is nothing we can do about the facilities for the moment," Frank Huang (黃孝寬), the executive director of TAITRA's exhibition department, said in a telephone interview yesterday.

The yet-to-be-completed Nankang Exhibition Hall in Taipei will provide space for 2,650 booths, and would offer a solution to the problem, Huang said.