Taipei's Computex Underscores Renewed Confidence In Local IT Industry

The ceremony also signaled a new confidence the future of the IT industry of Taiwan, whose companies account for 61 percent of the world's notebook PCs and 75 percent its motherboards, said Yi Fu Lin, who heads the government's Ministry of Economic Affairs and is the equivalent of the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury.

The Computex show, held here this week, was originally scheduled for last June. However, it was postponed because of the SARS epidemic which hit Taiwan, like much of Asia, with hundreds of deaths and a strain on an economy already hurt by the worldwide economic slump.

However, Yuen Chuan Chao, president of the government-sponsored China External Trade Development Council, said this week's conference has 1,241 exhibitors, up from 1,108 last year. Chao said he expects that number to grow another 10 percent for next year's Computex, planned for the first week of June 2004.

The mayor of Taipei, Ying-Jeou Ma, introduced a new exhibition hall, completed in the past six months on land that at last year's show was a parking lot. Ma also said that if cross-straits relationships with China can be improved, it will strengthen Computex because of the investment Taiwan companies have made in their neighbor's IT industry.

Frank Huang, chairman of the Taipei Computer Association, one of the co-organizers of Computex, said the conference marked the first time since the SARS epidemic ended that Taipei's hotels were fully booked--another sign of recovery of the country's IT industry.

On the show floor, vendors demonstrated a variety of wares destined for the U.S. channel, including motherboards ready for Advanced Micro Devices' official unveiling this week of its Athlon 64 processor.

Other products being shown at Computex include NAS devices, small-form-factor desktop PCs, large-screen notebook PCs and turnkey solutions and motherboard add-ons for building wireless access points.