With over 3,000 booths across three floors of the Nangang Exhibition Center, COMPUTEX returned in all its glory in 2023. After moving online for two years during the COVID pandemic and running a hybrid show last year, this year the world-famous trade show welcomed thousands of international visitors in person once again. Running from May 30 to June 2, at any time there were around 10,000 people visiting the exhibition. These visitors were able to connect with 1,000 tech companies and peruse their latest products, including big players from Taiwan such as Acer, Asus, ASRock, Gigabyte, and MSI.  

COMPUTEX organized their booths into 14 different categories across the first, third, and fourth floor of Nangang Exhibition Center Hall 1. Beyond diverse product displays, the trade show also included engaging activities such as the COMPUTEX Forum and keynotes from some of the world’s leading tech companies, including NVIDIA, Qualcomm, NXP, Acer, and Supermicro. COMPUTEX 2023 centered around six main themes: high performance computing, artificial intelligence applications, hyperreality, innovations and startups, next-gen connectivity, and sustainability. Of these themes, AI applications and sustainability seem to be the biggest trends across the exhibition.

Creating Together with Artificial Intelligence

COMPUTEX’s slogan this year was “Together we create,” referring to the ability of human-AI collaborations to create new ideas. This theme was established even before the exhibition opened, by James Huang, the Chairman of the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), during the COMPUTEX Global Press Conference, and by Jensen Huang, the CEO of NVIDIA, during his keynote speech on May 29. James Huang spoke of the advantages of working with a smart power, while Jensen Huang announced new AI technology for NPCs in gaming.

Within the COMPUTEX 2023 exhibition, there were numerous examples of new AI-embedded technologies that make our lives more efficient. These included updates to AI surveillance and AI recognition that help us to stay safe and organize video data. The connectivity company ATEN announced updates to their smart manufacturing solutions as well as a new, lifelike AI voice. Three floors above ATEN, AiQ displayed their newly designed smart clothing, which has applications for sports and healthcare.

Advances in smart healthcare are perhaps the best examples of the power of AI to improve society. In their exhibit, Gigabyte displayed a “Smart Fall Detection System,” which tracks patients’ movement and alerts medical professionals if they fall. Acer also showed updates in smart healthcare, including facial recognition systems that predict mood changes and AI-assisted software that speeds up the diagnosis of patients.

Turning COMPUTEX Green, Literally  

As climate change continues to threaten the planet, sustainability is a common goal across industries. This year not only did COMPUTEX organizers TAITRA and the Taipei Computer Association make sustainability a mission for the exhibition, but exhibitors focused on sustainable products. The idea of going green even extended to the design of many booths, which included a plethora of plants (some real, some fake). Surrounded by the glowing lights of RGB, these bursts of green reminded visitors of the importance of caring for our planet.

COMPUTEX always includes the launch of new laptops, and this year sustainable laptops were highlighted with the Sustainable Tech Special Award. These include the Acer Aspire Vero 15, which is made with 40% post-consumer recycled plastics for the chassis and 50% for the keypads. Also winning this award, the ASUS ExpertBook B9 boasts up to 70% being made from a post-industrial recycled Mg-Li alloy. ASUS also displayed their latest carbon neutral laptop, the Zenbook 13, which uses post-industrial recycled metals, post-consumer recycled plastics, and ocean plastics to make its various parts.

Those companies which have international sustainability certifications were marked with a special “ESG GO!” sign, including ASUS, Gigabyte, BenQ, and Acer. COMPUTEX also worked with Acer to launch the Earth Mission App, which helps users build sustainable living habits. When visitors downloaded the app, they could complete several COMPUTEX-related sustainability tasks to receive prizes.

Immersive Gaming: Better, Faster, Stronger

Beyond sustainable laptops, COMPUTEX 2023 included an all-new lineup of gaming laptops. Some of these stood out for their unique design, such as the Stealth 16 Mercedes AMG Motorsport, a gaming laptop released by MSI in partnership with Mercedes. It looks like what you might expect if you asked AI to create a laptop inspired by a racecar.

As gaming PCs get more advanced, CPUs SSDs, and GPUs keep getting hotter, demanding new cooling solutions. A leading PC case company, Thermaltake unveiled their new centralized thermal efficiency (CTE) chassis, the CTE C750 Full Tower Chassis Series. This CTE series rotates the motherboard 90 degrees, giving the CPU and graphics card independent airflows. Plus, it can come preinstalled with ARGB cooling fans for those gaming vibes.

Maintaining a Presence in Two Worlds

During the pandemic, COMPUTEX used the latest in connectivity technologies to bring us together with online events and activities. While this year’s exhibition welcomed thousands of international visitors in person once again, COMPUTEX maintained several online aspects. These included livestreams of the COMPUTEX Forum and keynote speeches, as well as daily CXP On Air programs that brought viewers highlights of the exhibition and tours with some of the biggest exhibitors. By maintaining both physical and virtual activities, COMPUTEX 2023 was able to welcome even more visitors to their world-famous trade show.