Computex: Two of the Three Major International Computer Shows Have Folded, the Remaining One Grows in Taipei

30‑second overview: Computex Taipei turns 45 this year. Originating in 1981 as an export exhibition for small‑ and medium‑sized enterprises beside Songshan Airport, it has become the must‑attend stage for global AI giants at the end of May and early June. Its two contemporaries—Germany’s CeBIT and the United States’ COMDEX—have both shut down, leaving Computex to grow ever larger. The 2026 theme is “AI Together,” and Jensen Huang opened the Taipei stage with the line “It’s great to be home.” Why does the global tech industry flock to Taipei every year’s end of May? The answer lies in a stark figure: research institutes estimate that nearly ninety percent of the world’s AI servers are assembled on this island.

“It’s Great to Be Home”

On the morning of 1 June 2026 in Taipei, Jensen Huang stepped onto the stage and opened with, “It’s great to be home.”¹

Behind him, the massive presentation backdrop listed not chip models but the names of local snack stalls—Wang Ji Fu‑Cheng rice dumplings and Fu Bang Wang pork knuckles—rather than technical specifications.¹ A Tainan‑born boy who moved to the United States at nine and later founded the world’s most valuable company in California returned to Taipei, calling it “home” and “the starting point of everything.”¹

In that speech he unveiled the next‑generation compute chip codenamed Vera Rubin, announcing its full‑scale production, and also showcased a chip called N1X, described as “the world’s most astonishing chip.” He spoke of “useful AI arriving” and “agent AI arriving.”¹ Yet what the audience remembered most was the backdrop featuring rice dumplings and pork knuckles.

The exhibition he addressed is called COMPUTEX, the Taipei International Computer Show, now 45 years old. That same week, not only Huang but also AMD’s Soo‑zef Su, Intel’s Chen Li‑wu, and Qualcomm’s Cristiano Amon—four CEOs of global tech giants—took the stage. TAITRA chairman Huang Chih‑fang calculated that the combined market value of the companies represented by the four keynote speeches and the nearly thirty speakers’ firms exceeded ten trillion USD.²

📝 Curator’s note
A question worth pausing on: why do the world’s highest‑valued tech companies choose Taipei, a computer show that started in 1981 beside Songshan Airport, to unveil their most critical products? The common answer is the “Jensen Huang whirlwind,” a Taiwanese‑American star CEO drawing global attention to Taiwan. That explanation reverses cause and effect. Huang returned to a place that was already unavoidable. To understand this, we must go back to the modest exhibition of 45 years ago that nobody expected to thrive.

The Export Exhibition Beside Songshan Airport

In 1981 Taiwan’s personal‑computer industry was just budding. The inaugural exhibition was simply named the Taipei City Computer Exhibition, held at the TAITRA exhibition hall beside Songshan Airport and organized by the Taipei City Computer Business Association.³⁴

Its initial purpose was practical: give Taiwan’s fledgling computer SMEs a booth to display motherboards and components to foreign buyers visiting Taiwan.⁴ It was an era of “money‑driven growth,” when the electronics‑parts culture of the Guanghua Mall was about to spill over into export business, and this show was the annual gathering point for that trade.

The second edition featured only 40 exhibitors.³ No one could have imagined that, more than four decades later, the number would swell to 1 500 companies occupying 6 000 booths.⁵

The Year Stan Shih Changed the Name

Stan Shih, founder of Acer. In 1984 he renamed the “Taipei City Computer Exhibition” to COMPUTEX TAIPEI, giving the show a globally recognizable brand; the photo shows him speaking at Taipei IT Month in 2014. Photo: Tony Tseng, 2014‑12‑05. License via Wikimedia Commons.

1984 marked a turning point. According to Wikipedia and multiple reports, the then‑chairman of the Taipei City Computer Business Association, Stan Shih—who would later found Acer—approved the English name COMPUTEX TAIPEI.³⁴ This locally driven naming move gave a show that had previously catered only to Taiwanese manufacturers a sign that faced the world.

The following year, starting with the fifth edition in 1985, the semi‑official Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) joined as co‑organizer, and the Chinese name was changed to Taipei International Computer Exhibition.³ From then on the show had two engines: a private association that understood industry needs, and a trade‑promotion agency with resources to push the exhibition internationally. The two engines together propelled the show upward.

By 1989 it had become Asia’s largest computer exhibition and the world’s third‑largest, trailing only Germany’s CeBIT in Hanover and the United States’ COMDEX.³ This was the golden era of Taiwan’s PC OEM boom, when brands such as ASUS, Gigabyte and MSI emerged from booths at this very show.

💡 Did you know?
Computex’s venue did not “move” outward; it grew outward. From the 1981 Songshan Airport hall, to the permanent 1986 venue at the Xinyi‑Road World Trade Center, then adding the Taipei International Convention Center, the World Trade Center’s Hall 2 and Hall 3, and from 2008 incorporating Nangang Exhibition Hall Hall 1 (later Hall 2), the site has expanded like a tree sprouting new branches—never transplanted.

Two of the Three Global Computer Shows Have Died

Entering the new millennium, the balance among the world’s three major computer shows began to tip.

The first to fall was the United States’ COMDEX. In 2003, as COMDEX declined, Computex’s organizers incorporated Taipei World Trade Center Hall 3 into the exhibition area, officially becoming the “second‑largest computer show in the world, behind only CeBIT.” In 2004 the four‑hall format was solidified.³⁴

The 2005 CeBIT exhibition in Hanover, Germany. At the height of the dot‑com bubble it attracted 850 000 visitors, making it the undisputed world‑leading computer show; it announced its closure in 2018. Photo: Florian K, 2005‑03‑16. License via Wikimedia Commons.

The longer‑lasting rival was Germany’s CeBIT. CeBIT split off from the historic Hanover industrial fair in 1986 and, during the dot‑com boom, peaked at 850 000 visitors, becoming the world’s number‑one computer show.⁶ Yet as the boom faded, attendance and exhibitor numbers steadily declined, with the market being divided among January’s CES, February’s MWC, June’s Computex, and September’s IFA. In November 2018 the organizers announced CeBIT’s closure.⁶

A Central News Agency (CNA) report on CeBIT’s shutdown quoted the agency: “Every June, the Taipei International Computer Show (Computex) offers Asian manufacturers a geographic advantage, and its scale keeps expanding.”⁶

The phrase “geographic advantage” is the key.

Thus, of the three historic computer shows, COMDEX folded in 2003, CeBIT folded in 2018, and the one that survived grew in Taipei. Why did it endure?

📝 Curator’s note
The common internet narrative is “Jensen Huang made Computex great again.” That narrative reverses chronology. COMDEX and CeBIT died before the AI wave, while Computex had already been expanding. What drives an exhibition? Orders. Orders follow manufacturing. German and American shows were held where demand gathered: buyers, media, product launches. Taipei’s show is held where supply is created—the place where the actual hardware is built. When an industry reaches a stage where “who can make it” becomes scarcer than “who can imagine it,” a supply‑side exhibition wins. Exhibitions do not grow in a vacuum; they grow where the things are actually manufactured.

The Six‑Thousand Booths No One Films

The Nangang Exhibition Hall, the recent main venue for Computex. Every late May‑early June, buyers from hundreds of countries converge here. Photo: NVIDIA Taiwan, 2016‑05‑31. License via Wikimedia Commons.

Media always focus on the keynote stage and the CEOs. But Computex’s real body is those 6 000 booths.⁵

The overwhelming majority of booths belong to SMEs that make chassis, cooling solutions, power supplies, connectors, and other components. They rarely receive individual press coverage, yet without them an AI server cannot be assembled. Since the 1981 export exhibition, these “unfilmed” SMEs have formed the show’s backbone. For example, companies like Qihong and Shuang‑Hong, which produce water‑cooling plates and quick‑connectors, are unknown to most, yet they are indispensable to NVIDIA’s scorching AI cabinets.

This is what sets Computex apart from other tech shows. It is fundamentally a B2B procurement arena; foreign buyers come to place orders. Held on the island with the densest supply chain, a buyer can walk a handful of booths and gather all the parts needed for a complete machine—efficiency that Silicon Valley launch events cannot match.

The “PC Is Dead” Decade

Computex has not always sailed smoothly.

In 2012 global PC shipments fell for the first time, and the PC‑originated show followed suit.⁴ The “PC is dead” narrative spread as smartphones captured consumer attention. In 2014 even PC leader Lenovo was absent, prompting doubts that Computex had become a self‑indulgent platform for Taiwanese brands. In 2015 an article circulating in cross‑Strait tech circles titled “The Declining Computex, a Self‑Amusing Game” criticized the show.⁴

That period was also Computex’s most awkward image-wise. Early on it was known for its showgirls; in 2018 foreign media criticized the objectification of women and the show’s outdated marketing. The following year TAITRA encouraged vendors to adopt more creative marketing; while no ban was issued, the presence of showgirls noticeably declined.⁷

Crisis forced transformation. In 2016 Computex launched the InnoVEX innovation zone, extending its reach from mature PC hardware to AI, IoT and startups.⁵ Officially the exhibition’s positioning quietly shifted from “computer show” to “global leading AIoT and innovation exhibition.”³ The 2020 pandemic forced the event online, allowing it to survive its toughest year.³

No one foresaw that this survival‑driven transformation would lay the groundwork for the tsunami three years later.

The Year Jensen Huang Returned

Jensen Huang’s 2016 Computex Taipei keynote. Since 2023 he has returned almost annually to announce NVIDIA’s latest AI chips. Photo: NVIDIA Taiwan, 2016‑05‑31. License via Wikimedia Commons.

On 29 May 2023, Jensen Huang took the Computex stage for his first post‑pandemic in‑person keynote—and his first public speech in nearly four years.⁸ He introduced the Grace Hopper super‑chip, announced its mass production, and unveiled a DGX GH200 supercomputer that links 256 chips via NVLink to achieve exaflop‑scale performance, with Google, Meta and Microsoft among the first customers.⁸ His core message: bring generative AI into every data center.

That generative‑AI wave pulled Computex out of the “PC is dead” shadow.

✦ A four‑decade‑old computer show, long dismissed as past its prime, survived not by becoming stronger itself but because the world suddenly needed the place where its hardware is actually built.

In 2024, a record number of tech‑company CEOs gathered in Taipei. AMD’s Soo‑zef Su delivered the opening keynote; Qualcomm, Intel, and MediaTek CEOs followed, while Jensen Huang shared a stage with ARM’s CEO.² Outside the keynotes, Huang gave a personal talk at National Taiwan University’s sports arena on how AI drives a new global industrial revolution. He concluded by thanking Taiwan, saying, “Taiwan is an unsung hero, yet the world’s pillar.” He added, “Without Taiwan, NVIDIA’s vision would be an unattainable dream.”⁹

NVIDIA official channel: Jensen Huang’s full 2024 Computex keynote. He likens generative AI to an “AI factory,” with a crowd of Taiwanese supply‑chain vendors in the audience.

That same week he toured Ningxia Night Market with 92‑year‑old Morris Chang, Lin Bai‑li of Quanta, devouring oyster omelets and tofu pudding—images that spread across Taiwan.¹⁰ Two years later, in 2026, he returned to a night market, this time with his parents, paying for a line of patrons to enjoy tofu pudding and joking, “I’m treating you, sorry, I brought my dad and mom.”¹¹ The world’s most powerful tech CEO treats Taipei’s night markets like his own backyard.

By 2025 Computex had become wholly an AI stage. That year’s theme, “AI NEXT,” saw Huang speak at the 5 000‑seat Taipei Pop Music Center to a packed audience, announcing the next‑generation GB300 chip and partnering with Foxconn, the National Science and Technology Council, and TSMC to build AI infrastructure in Taiwan.¹²

This Year’s Taipei: AI Together

In 2026, TAITRA chairman Huang Chih‑fang described Computex as “the first edition to adopt a dual‑venue model, adding World Trade Center Hall 1 to the existing Nangang Hall 1 and Hall 2, making it the largest edition ever.”¹³ The show featured 33 countries, 1 500 exhibitors, 6 000 booths, and ran from 2 June to 5 June, attracting an estimated 40 000 international buyers.⁵¹⁴

The theme is “AI Together.” Huang explained that it not only represents a new human‑AI intersection but also “symbolizes Taiwan joining forces with the global tech industry to co‑create the next chapter of AI civilization.”¹³ The exhibition revolves around three pillars: AI & computing, robotics & mobility, and next‑generation technologies.⁵

The most notable new focus is robotics. Returning to World Trade Center Hall 1, three dedicated zones were created: an AI‑robotics area, an electronic‑paper industry zone, and a technology‑experience pavilion, emphasizing “embodied AI” and “physical AI.” After years of existing mainly in data‑center servers, AI this year is meant to grow limbs and walk into the physical world.

The newly added AI‑robotics zone became Hall 1’s centerpiece, hosting over 180 companies covering the full chain from sensors, motors, gearboxes to system integration, demonstrating live robots in industrial automation, logistics and medical care.¹⁵ The most representative exhibitor was HIWIN Technologies, traditionally a precision‑motion parts maker, which debuted dual‑arm logistics robots, humanoid core modules and smart grippers, leveraging its in‑house ball‑screws, harmonic reducers and actuation modules.¹⁶ A company that once supplied precision parts for machine tools and semiconductor equipment now supplies the mechanical “body” for the “physical AI” that NVIDIA describes. Huang said he hopes Taiwan will “leap from a global tech‑manufacturing hub to a global AI‑solution center.”¹⁵ Original AI‑server OEMs Foxconn and Wistron also showcased robots at their booths.¹⁷

The main stage remained star‑studded. Jensen Huang opened on 1 June with the fully‑produced Vera Rubin chip; Qualcomm’s Cristiano Amon delivered the opening speech the same day; AMD’s Soo‑zef Su and Intel’s Chen Li‑wu each led a keynote; CEOs of Marvell and NXP also presented on AI infrastructure and embodied AI.²¹⁸ Inside the exhibition hall, because GPU compute power kept climbing and air cooling reached physical limits, liquid cooling became standard equipment at the major OEM booths.¹⁷

NVIDIA official channel: Jensen Huang’s full 2026 GTC Taipei keynote. Here he said “It’s great to be home,” unveiled the fully‑produced Vera Rubin, and the backdrop displayed Taipei’s rice dumplings and pork‑knuckle stalls.

📝 Curator’s note
Pay attention to the backdrop featuring rice dumplings and pork knuckles, and Huang’s line “Taipei is the starting point of everything.” A tech CEO presenting a chip with a night‑market snack backdrop tells the world that every step—from design to a usable machine—depends on this island. The pork knuckle on the backdrop and the 6 000 booths supplying cooling and power speak the same story.

Nine‑Tenth of Servers, Three‑Percent Margin

Zooming out from the stage reveals Computex’s real strength—and its hidden risk.

TSMC’s Hsinchu fab. An AI chip’s first step is here—over ninety percent of the world’s most advanced chips are produced by TSMC. Photo: Arusanov, 2009, public domain. License via Wikimedia Commons.

For a NVIDIA AI chip to become a data‑center server, almost every step occurs in Taiwan. The chip is fabricated by TSMC, which produces over ninety percent of the world’s most advanced chips. Packaging relies on TSMC’s CoWoS advanced packaging, now the bottleneck of AI compute supply.¹⁹ Assembly is handled by Foxconn, Quanta, Wistron and others; Foxconn alone accounts for roughly forty percent of global AI‑server OEM market share.²⁰ Power supplies come from Delta Electronics, which holds about half of the global server‑power market; cooling, connectors and chassis are likewise dominated by Taiwanese firms.¹⁹ Research institutes estimate that nearly ninety percent of AI servers are assembled and shipped by Taiwanese manufacturers.¹⁹

That is Computex’s geographic advantage: design in the United States, manufacturing in Taiwan, and the annual May‑June rendezvous where designers fly to the manufacturing hub.

Yet beneath this “main stage” glow lies a familiar Taiwanese shadow. Assembly‑OEM profit margins have lingered at only three to five percentage points for years—colloquially called “毛三到四” or “Mao‑shan Taoist.”²⁰ By contrast, TSMC enjoys margins above fifty percent, and NVIDIA exceeds seventy percent. Taiwan earns the hard‑earned money of putting parts together, while the upstream owners of core IP and design tools capture the larger slices.

⚠️ Controversy & Concern
Two heavier stones press this position. First, geopolitics: the once‑celebrated “silicon shield” that deterred aggression is now being framed as a strategic target, according to think‑tank analyses since 2025.²¹ Second, energy: a 2025 investigation found that data centers consume only about 0.5 % of Taiwan’s total electricity, while the semiconductor manufacturing sector consumes nearly fifteen percent of national power.²² In other words, the real power‑hungry engines supporting Taiwan’s AI leadership are the wafer fabs, not the servers displayed at Computex. As for the loudly proclaimed “de‑Sinicization” of the supply chain, reality shows that companies like Compal operate factories across Taiwan, China, Vietnam, Thailand, India, Mexico and the United States—a “China + N” dispersion rather than a full withdrawal.¹⁴

The halo and the shadow are two sides of the same coin. Taiwan’s status as Computex’s home stage stems from its irreplaceable manufacturing capability, but that indispensability comes at the cost of concentrating the island’s electricity demand, geopolitical risk, and industrial focus onto a single supply‑chain backbone.

Taipei Is the Starting Point of Everything

In 1984 Stan Shih gave the Taipei City Computer Exhibition an English name that faced the world; at that time Taiwan was still a small island assembling motherboards for multinational firms.

Forty‑two years later, in 2026, Jensen Huang stood on the same stage, with rice dumplings and pork knuckles behind him, declaring “It’s great to be home” and “Taipei is the starting point of everything.”¹ In the intervening four decades, COMDEX folded, CeBIT folded, and every major computer exhibition around the world closed—leaving only the show that sprouted beside Songshan Airport to keep growing.

It did not become smarter than its rivals; it simply grew in the right place. Exhibitions follow orders; orders follow manufacturing; manufacturing stays on this island. The next time you see news of “Jensen Huang visiting Taiwan,” read it as: the global computing infrastructure returns each year to the place where it is truly assembled, making a pilgrimage.

Further Reading

• Semiconductor Industry: 50 Years of Material Innovation from RCA Transfer to GaN and Quantum Packaging — The TSMC and CoWoS advanced‑packaging backbone that underpins Computex’s home‑stage status.
• Taiwan AI Development and Future Strategy — From hardware supply chain to AI applications, Taiwan’s position in this wave.
• Taiwan Robotics Industry — The “embodied AI” focus of Computex 2026 and the domestic robotics supply chain.
• Taiwan Electric‑Vehicle Industry Chain Development — The same electronics OEMs that assemble computers now extend to cars and robots.

Image Credits

• Computex Taipei sign inside Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center – Photo: Masaru Kamikura, 2011‑05‑31, CC BY 2.0 (hero image: Nangang hall signage).
• Stan Shih at Taipei IT Month 2014 – Photo: Tony Tseng, 2014‑12‑05, CC BY 2.0.
• CeBIT Hannover 2005 – Photo: Florian K, 2005‑03‑16, CC BY‑SA 3.0.
• TSMC factory Hsinchu – Photo: Arusanov, 2009, public domain.
• Computex Taipei at Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center – Photo: NVIDIA Taiwan, 2016‑05‑31, CC BY 2.0.
• Jensen Huang at Computex Taipei – Photo: NVIDIA Taiwan, 2016‑05‑31, CC BY 2.0.

References