Computex 2009 kick starts in Taiwan

 TAIPEI, TAIWAN: The 29th year of Computex, one of the world’s largest ICT exhibitions, began in Taiwan on June 2, 2009. The expo is a five day affair. Judging by the number of participants, it seems the global slowdown hardly had any impact on the expo.

Nearly 1,700 exhibitors showcased their products in 4,498 booths as compared to 1,725 exhibitors in 2008, with Kingston and Foxconn being among the list of companies that did not participate this year. The expo is being held in two locations—Taipei World Trade Center & Taipei International Convention Center.

This year’s show includes a wide range of product categories such as computer systems, components, data storage devices, software, peripherals, display and digital entertainment products, mobile Internet, WiMax, green technology and netbooks.

Dedicated to its B2B mission, the show's organizing team is putting together around 4,000 procurement match-making meetings at Taiwan World Trade Center, Nangang Exhibition Hall and Hall 1 from June 2-4 during the expo. With last year’s two day event generating around $200 million, the three day meetings this year are bound to create even more stellar results.

The theme of Computex Taipei CEO Summit this year is 'Mobile Technologies for a Green World' with a panel discussion on 'The future of Green Technology'. High ranking executives from ARM, Asus, Google, HP and Texas Instruments would be speakers and panelists in the summit.

Meanwhile the Computex Taipei Forum features 90 sessions of conferences on specialized topics and offers perfect opportunities for professionals to exchange their insight and roadmap for the future.

In his address during the opening ceremony of Computex 2009, Chih-Kang Wang, Chairman, Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), said that the global competitiveness of Taiwan’s IT industry has climbed to number two position in the world. “According to estimates by Institute for Information Industry (III) in 2008, the overall output of Taiwan’s IT hardware industry for both home and abroad is $110.271 billion, representing a 4.6 percent growth over 2007. However with the financial turmoil that began in the second half of 2008, the electronics industry has suffered the most obvious impact. The total revenue of the global ICT industry will shrink by 2.3 percent and the results have been reflected in many ICT-related international exhibitions. However, Computex 2009 is endeavoring to maintain the scale of the exhibition amidst this economic downturn.”

In his opening address, JT Wang, Chairman, Taipei Computer Association said that the main theme of Computex 2009 has become 'WiMax on the Move' from 'Compuetx catch the WiMax' symbolizing the launch of commercial WiMax operations in Taiwan.

The first day also saw several launches from companies like Asus, Acer, HCL, Nvidia, A-Data, Apacer and Kingmax to name a few.