Author: Tim Culpan
Translation: Deep Tide TechFlow
Deep Tide Guide: This year's Computex has attracted a record number of overseas tech CEOs, but they are not here for show. This article reveals a neglected truth: The fate of chip manufacturers is not decided by brand companies like Dell or HP, but by supply chain engineers in Taiwan who handle modules, cooling, and assembly. Understanding this bottom-up power structure is key to understanding the real operational logic of the tech industry.
Good evening Taipei. The Computex Taipei computer exhibition opens tomorrow (Tuesday, June 2nd), and this annual event is more bustling than ever before.
I was recently asked what's different about Computex this year, why it's suddenly so hot. The answer is: nothing is different. I've been attending every year since 2000, and the exhibition itself has barely changed.
What has changed in recent years is the world's rediscovered interest in computers, along with a sudden realization that Taiwan dominates this industry. This year, servers—those giant computers inside big, boring black boxes—have become part of mass conversation and cultural discussion in an unprecedented way.
This is my guide for Computex, teaching you how to attend efficiently and how to understand what's really happening behind the scenes of this globally most important exhibition.
The origin story of Computex is written in its name, Computer Expo. Even as the world's interest in computers has waxed and waned, this annual event has always remained true to its roots.
Over the years, the rise of consumer electronics, gaming consoles, and smartphones made computers seem boring. But this exhibition never strayed from its original purpose. It has always been a stage for computer manufacturers to showcase desktops, laptops, servers, motherboards, cables, peripherals, and all components of the PC industry.
The exhibition officially begins on Tuesday of the first week of June. Monday is not an official exhibition day, but some companies hold events. Saturday is the final day, open to the public. I recommend avoiding Saturday at Computex.
Computex is mainly divided into three parts:
- Industry Keynote Speeches
- Forums
- Exhibition Floor
Keynote Speeches
Keynote speeches are opportunities for executives to pitch their companies, ecosystems, and latest products to people. Remember, the target audience at Computex is engineers, product managers, supply chain purchasers, and global sourcing executives. This is a group proficient in technology, familiar with soldering and motherboards. Bus speeds and thermal thresholds are their daily topics.
For many years, Intel specifically reserved one of its annual chip launches for Computex. AMD often did the same. Taiwan's VIA Technologies once became a hero at Computex, while Intel was the villain for bursting this little rival's balloon (literally, I'm not joking). Graphics chip manufacturers ATi and Nvidia heavily relied on Computex to introduce their niche products to an attentive audience.
Well-known brands occupy prime marketing spots around the exhibition hall
Image: Tim Culpan/Culpium
Computex was, is, and remains the premier computer exhibition.
Therefore, Intel's CEO usually gives a keynote, and one or two other bosses might show up to speak. A few foreign CEOs are about all we could expect, while local leaders like Asus's Jonney Shih or Acer's Gianfranco Lanci would carry Taiwan's flag. Regional or vice-president level bosses of global giants often appear as company ambassadors.
This year, Computex has attracted the most overseas bosses I can remember, including:
Qualcomm, Cristiano Amon
Intel, Lip-Bu Tan
Arm, Rene Haas
AMD, Lisa Su
Nvidia, Jensen Huang
Marvell, Matt Murphy
NXP, Rafael Sotomayor
The importance of Computex is not because all these tech CEOs are coming to Taipei. On the contrary, they are all coming to Taipei because Computex is so important.
The global industry elite come to Taipei to kiss the ring of tech power.
I count AMD's Lisa Su on the list, even though she came to town before Computex, not specifically for the exhibition itself. Nvidia's Jensen Huang is not officially appearing at Computex either. At least not officially. His Monday GTC keynote is not on the official Computex schedule.
AMD CEO Lisa Su speaks to reporters after attending a pre-Computex 100 event and making announcements in Taipei
Photo: Tim Culpan/Culpium
But this precisely illustrates the point. So many executives realize that Computex, and Taiwan more broadly, are so crucial to their business that they find ways to squeeze into this packed schedule. They want to make major announcements while the world is watching them, and then meet key figures in closed-door sessions to build relationships that will make or break their business over the next 12 months.
The real action doesn't actually happen in the keynotes. All the news naturally flows from interviews under embargo and press releases, timed exactly for when the boss takes the stage.
Forums
Since keynotes are thoroughly covered by media, press releases, and social media, your time might be better spent on small forums focusing on super-niche topics. For example, ABB Robotics' Managing Director Craig McDonnell will host a forum this year on industrial-grade physical AI for robotics. If that's not your thing, consider Google DeepMind's Ed H. Chi and his speech on the future of personalized universal assistants. There are many more. There are also supporting events like Innovex, focusing on startups and emerging companies.
Companies want to present at these forums to promote their vision and ecosystem. Companies also want to sit in the audience to understand what competitors and partners are doing, exchange business cards. I guarantee you'll learn more and build higher-quality connections from a few carefully selected forums than from attending every keynote.
The Exhibition Floor
I'm always surprised to find Computex visitors scheduling their departure for Wednesday or Thursday. But this is understandable if you don't know where the real treasures lie. I think these early departures happen because the final days of most other exhibitions really don't have much good stuff left.
But the most exciting action is neither in the keynotes nor the forums. Everything happens on the exhibition floor, in the VIP areas of those 3x3 booths, in invitation-only hotel suites, in meeting rooms at tech company offices near the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center and Neihu District.
Many enterprises, including local tech companies and local offices of foreign companies, mark Computex as a closed day on their calendars, prohibiting leave or business trips to ensure full attendance.
Overseas clients are the lifeblood of Taiwan's industry, especially the tech sector, and local partners prepare for this annual pilgrimage. Veterans come because they understand something many visitors don't: winning over the PC ecosystem is crucial for winning market share with end-buyers.
The tech ecosystem is more bottom-up than many imagine. Foreign clients have the money, but local suppliers have the talent and the connections.
Another trade show? Perhaps not?
Image: Tim Culpan/Culpium
A module manufacturer that doesn't want to design circuit boards around your chip won't become an advocate for your product. A thermal management or mechanical parts maker unwilling to spend time learning and building around your specifications won't have ready solutions when the assembler needs them.
And an assembler that doesn't want to invest time and resources developing a system integrating your product, partly because upstream manufacturers aren't ready with parts, won't even bother showing it to the branded PC manufacturers.
While Dell, HP, Lenovo, Acer, and Asus decide what products to sell, what specifications, and at what price, they are powerless if the rest of the ecosystem isn't interested.
A little-known reality is that system manufacturers and their suppliers make many crucial product and engineering decisions before presenting to brand clients. These choices mark whether your component is taken seriously or becomes yet another oddity that barely ships.
Although many parts are made in South Korea, Japan, China, and even the US, the real ones calling the shots are Taiwan's hardware gang. An uninterested assembler, or a confused and fatigued module manufacturer, can kill your product even before it leaves TSMC's wafer fab. This isn't some conspiracy. It's cold, hard pragmatism.
Tech cycles are short. Margins are thin. Technical barriers are high. The only speed at which this industry functions is fast. Doing so requires cooperation between competitors and partners. As Lisa Su recently said in Taipei about her competitors, "We're all friends because we grew up together." Bringing something new to market is a huge risk for every possible manufacturing participant.
The exhibition floor and the hidden backrooms are where these relationships develop. It's at these booths that niche manufacturers of heat spreaders, high-speed cables, or multi-layer printed circuit boards showcase their products. Then they listen as existing or potential clients share engineering challenges, outline their own sales forecasts, and seek advice on how to build products under oppressive profit margins and impossible deadlines.
Got an idea? Please share.
For big companies like Intel, AMD, Nvidia, Qualcomm, and Marvell, not being mentioned in these discussions means your chip is being rejected by those who make the final product. Similarly, failing to show up and support these manufacturers will lead them to work with suppliers who are willing to do so.
Like any industry, relationships and interoperability matter. What's unique about tech hardware is that the manufacturing of physical products combines with product development cycles operating at tech speed.
Computex offers a unique opportunity to observe this ecosystem. You just need to know where to look.
