Computex Taipei’s organizers have canceled the annual computer and technology trade shows due to lingering concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic and large-scale travel restrictions, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA, 外貿協會) said.
Originally scheduled to take place earlier this month, Computex was initially postponed to late September as the pandemic wreaked havoc across the globe.
“While Taiwan is no longer under the threat of COVID-19, the virus is still spreading in 187 other countries with more than 7.35 million cases worldwide,” TAITRA said in a statement
Photo: Lin Chin-hua, Taipei Times
Along with the heavy economic effects of the pandemic, travel restrictions and lockdown measures which are in place to prevent future transmissions of the virus might prevent overseas participants and press from traveling to Taiwan, it said.
“Preserving the health and safety of Computex’s participants remain our top priority... After careful deliberation, we have decided to cancel this year’s show,” TAITRA said.
Pointing to Taiwan’s closed borders, which greatly contributed to the nation’s success in combating the coronavirus, TAITRA chairman James Huang (黃志芳) said the potential risk of new cases from abroad remains high.
“Nobody can afford to shoulder this kind of responsibility” of new COVID-19 cases in the nation, Huang said.
Even if Taiwan has the capacity to test each and every one of Computex’s overseas visitors, the two-week quarantine is more than enough to dissuade the majority of participants, Huang said.
Nevertheless, the trade show in September would hold online exhibitions and forums, he added.
Computex, one of the largest trade shows of its kind, is cohosted by the Computer Association and attracts more than 40,000 visitors annually.
The next show is scheduled for June 1 to June 5 next year.
EXPECTATIONS: The firm, which is on track to outpace global foundry industry revenue growth, said it expects constrained advanced process capacity amid stronger AI demand Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday increased its projected revenue growth for this year to above 25 percent, as stronger-than-expected demand for premium smartphones and artificial intelligence (AI) devices are to drive greater utilization of cutting-edge 3-nanometer and 5-nanometer chips. In April TSMC estimated 21 to 24 percent annual growth. The firm’s revenue growth is on track to greatly outpace the global foundry industry, which is expected to rise about 10 percent this year. “Over the past three months, we have observed stronger AI and high-end smartphone demand from our customers, which is to boost the overall capacity utilization for our leading-edge
INVESTMENT: The company’s planned complex in Texas would be the first 12-inch silicon wafer fab built in the US in more than 20 years, a GlobalWafers official said GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said it secured up to US$400 million in direct funding from the US Department of Commerce under the CHIPS and Science Act for the construction of two new advanced fabs in the US. Its subsidiaries GlobalWafers America and MEMC LLC are to build a 12-inch silicon wafer fab in Sherman, Texas, and another one in Missouri to produce silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers used to make leading-edge chips. “With the support of the [US President Joe] Biden Administration, we are honored to be bringing to American shores the world’s most cutting-edge 12-inch semiconductor
Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (力積電) yesterday said that net losses ballooned to NT$1.96 billion (US$60.1 million) in the second quarter, as heavy manufacturing costs from a new fab outweighed the improvement in customer demand and factory utilization. That compared with losses of NT$439 million in the first quarter. The company posted a net profit of NT$617 million a year earlier. Gross margin plummeted to 5.3 percent last quarter, from 15.4 percent in the previous quarter and 16.8 percent in the same period last year. It was the weakest since the fourth quarter of last year. The chipmaker blamed heavy depreciation and higher manufacturing
Nikon Corp is fielding strong demand for its legacy chipmaking machines in China, which is mobilizing resources to build its own semiconductor supply chain. Inquiries for the Japanese precision maker’s lithography tools have surged in China, Nikon president Muneaki Tokunari said. The company is set to revamp a lithography machine geared for decades-old manufacturing processes. Its NSR-2205iL1, launching this summer, would serve the market for mature chip technology and Nikon expects to sell more than 10 units of the machine annually, said Tokunari, who is also chief operating officer and chief financial officer. New companies are sprouting up in China to make