COMPUTEX TAIPEI 2003, the world's third-largest computer trade show was postponed due to SARS, has been reschedule to Sept. 22-26 with 1,200 exhibitors displaying their latest products at around 2,500 booths, according to the organizers announced yesterday.

"Companies are still quite interested in participating in the show, despite the delay from June to September because of the SARS outbreak," said Shea Jia Dong, chairman of China External Trade Development Council (CETRA), the event's co-organizer.

This year will be different from all the other when the original date for early June was suspended and now for the first time be held at a third location held in front of the what will be the tallest building in Taiwan as well as in Asia. The space is a multifunctional parking facility between the Grand Hyatt Hotel and New York New York Mall besides the usual Taipei World Trade Center (TWTC) Exhibition Halls 1 and 2.

Mayor Ma Ying Jeou, who attended yesterday's pre-show news conference along with organizers and major players in the local computer industry, fondly called the makeshift exhibition hall "TWTC 3," a one-hectare facility that enabled organizers to add 500 more booths. "It couldn't have been completed in June to accommodate COMPUTEX. I hate SARS to death, but this can be said as a blessing of SARS," Ma said. Frank Huang, chairman of the Taipei Computer Association (TCA), the show's co-organizer said: "I believe the trade show will definitely help Taiwan's IT sector, despite the time constraint."

The trade show is expected to help boost local IT manufacturers' revenues during the second half by around 5-10 percent compared to the first half of 2003, Huang predicted yesterday. The exhibition's scale and status in the international computer industry have been rising at a faster pace than the COMDEX, the world's No. 2 computer show in the world held in Las Vegas each year.

This year's COMPUTEX TAIPEI will feature products by 1,195 local and overseas exhibitors running 2,471 booths, up respectively from last year's 1,108 and 2,306.

By: DocMemory
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