Netbooks to boost Computex 2009 to biggest show yet

COMPUTEX 2009 is on course to be the biggest yet, despite the gloomy economic outlook, the trade show organiser said at a press conference we attended in Taipei this week.

The annual technology extravaganza, which puts buyers from around the world in direct touch with manufacturers from the Far East and elsewhere, is claimed to generate billions of pounds worth of business. This year, organiser the External Trade Development Council (Taitra) reckons the show will generate some £13 billion of business in the week June 2 -6, 2009.

Taitra said it has already booked some 1,800 companies to exhibit at the show, up from 1,700 last year, and also said it expects around 40,000 overseas visitors up from last year's total of 34,000. The outfit would dearly love to knock CeBit off its perch as the biggest IT show on the planet. Little do they know that it is precisely because CeBit has grown so big that it is beginning to contract, if you follow us…

Officially boosting the number of exhibitors at the show this year for the first time will be 'more than 200' exhibitors from mainland China. This development is a result of direct flights being allowed between the island - which likes to think it is an independent part of the Republic of China - and the Chinese mainland, the Peoples Republic, which claims authority over the territory. The history here is beyond the scope of this article, but Wackypedia may help a bit.

The Chinese exhibitors will be housed in a new 'Cross-Strait' pavilion, which is the nomenclature used to avoid the sticky politics. Last year, the show stretched to the outskirts of Old Taipei to encompass a new purpose-built conference centre, Nangang. This year a new hall will be added to the mix, to make five in total. Heaven help us hassled hacks trying to cover the whole thing.

Taitra Executive Veep Walter Yeh said a main focus of the show will be on netbooks. "Taiwan becomes the most important sourcing centre for netbook computers," he said. "Next year our major producers, Acer, Asus, MSI, also international companies like Intel, VIA will all introduce new products for MID here in Taiwan."

Interest in MIDs will be even greater next year because of the financial crisis, Yeh predicted. Other hot products at Computex 2009 will be LED backlight computers and WiMax, he said. µ