Computex Taipei 2005, the world's second-largest computer show after CeBIT in Germany, will open in Taipei tomorrow, drawing exhibitors, visitors and speakers from Taiwan and abroad.
The annual exhibition, now in its 25th year, will run from tomorrow through Saturday at the Taipei World Trade Center Exhibition Hall and the adjacent Taipei International Convention Center.
The show features 1,288 exhibitors and 2,853 booths, compared to 1,347 exhibitors and 2,828 booths last year, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA,
The organizers denied Computex Taipei 2005 is smaller than that last year, saying it has cut down the number of exhibitors so that larger exhibitors can have more floor space.
Computex used to be the world's third-largest computer fair after CeBIT in Hanover and Comdex in the US. But as Comdex in Las Vegas has shrunk in recent years, Computex has jumped to number two.
The organizers expect to attract 25,000 foreign buyers and 120,000 local visitors, a similar level to last year. Besides major buyers from the US and Japan, visitors from China, which may exceed 1,000, may place big orders in Taiwan.
Chinese firms that have registered for the show include Lenovo Group Ltd (
"Taiwan manufacturers say foreign buyers saw Taiwan's latest products at CeBIT in March but wait to place orders at Computex in June," TAITRA spokesperson Yen Hsiu-chuan (
Taiwan is the world's leader in computer hardware, especially desktop computers, notebook computers, monitors, motherboards, keyboards and mouses. Most of Taiwan's computer hardware is made on an Original Equipment Manufacturing (OEM) basis, meaning products are made to be marketed abroad under large international brands such as Apple, Dell or IBM.
Last year, Taiwan produced US$67 billion in computer hardware, up 23 percent from 2003, according to statistics provided by the semi-official Market Intelligence Center (
Besides securing OEM orders, local companies also plan to impress buyers with their brand name products this year.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), for example, plans to showcase its handsets under the brand name "Foxconn," made by its affiliate Foxconn International Holdings Ltd (富士康), while MiTAC International Corp (神達電腦) will also hawk its "Mio" brand products after striking the right note in the global positioning system (GPS) device market with the brand.
Elon Musk’s lieutenants have reached out to chip industry suppliers, including Applied Materials Inc, Tokyo Electron Ltd and Lam Research Corp, for his envisioned Terafab, early steps in an audacious and likely arduous attempt to break into the production of cutting-edge chips. Staff working for the joint venture between Tesla Inc and Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) have sought price quotes and delivery times for an array of chipmaking gear, people familiar with the matter said. In past weeks, they’ve contacted makers of photomasks, substrates, etchers, depositors, cleaning devices, testers and other tools, according to the people, who asked not to
Taichung reported the steepest fall in completed home prices among the six special municipalities in the first quarter of this year, data compiled by Taiwan Realty Co (台灣房屋) showed yesterday. From January through last month, the average transaction price for completed homes in Taichung fell 8 percent from a year earlier to NT$299,000 (US$9,483) per ping (3.3m²), said Taiwan Realty, which compiled the data based on the government’s price registration platform. The decline could be attributed to many home buyers choosing relatively affordable used homes to live in themselves, instead of newly built homes in the city’s prime property market, Taiwan Realty
JET JUICE: The war on Iran’s secondary effects have seen fuel prices skyrocket, knocking flight schedules down to earth in return as airlines struggle with costs Airline passengers should brace for more irritation in the next few months as carriers worldwide cancel flights and ground planes to cope with stratospheric increases in jet-fuel prices. Dutch flag carrier KLM is the latest company to cut its schedule, saying on Thursday that it would scrap 80 return flights at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport in the coming month. That puts it in the same league as United Airlines Holdings Inc, Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd, which have all pruned itineraries to mitigate costs. Global capacity for next month has been reduced by about 3 percentage points, with all
Taiwan is attracting a growing number of foreign jobseekers as companies increasingly recruit overseas talent to ease labor shortages and expand global reach, recruitment platform 104 Job Bank (104人力銀行) said yesterday. More than 40,000 foreign nationals searched for jobs in Taiwan through the platform last year, a 28 percent increase from a year earlier, the company said. Malaysians accounted for the largest share of overseas jobseekers at 12.2 percent, followed by Indonesians at 11.9 percent and Vietnamese at 10.8 percent. Indonesian applicants surged more than 50 percent year-on-year, while Vietnamese jobseekers rose by more than 30 percent. Applicants from the
RSS