Computex 2006: PC industry heads for Taipei

Taiwan's Computex trade show, a key event in the PC industry calendar, opens on 6 June in Taipei.

The show is traditionally used by Taiwan-based manufacturers to demonstrate products ready for delivery during the run-up to the Christmas season.

Taiwanese companies dominate the production of products like desktop PC motherboards and notebook PCs, cornering more than 80 per cent of global production.

Computex attracts hordes of system integrators, distributors and other buyers from Europe, the US and Asia.

More than 120,000 visitors are expected to see tens of thousands of products from approximately 1,300 companies at Computex, which runs from 6 to 10 June.

With Intel and AMD releasing, or about to release, new processors, market watchers will be keeping a close eye on the level of support they receive from motherboard and notebook makers, the vast majority of which are based in Taiwan. 

AMD recently announced its new line of socket AM2 CPUs, which are its first to use faster DDR2 memory. AMD has traditionally tried to keep CPU socket changes to a minimum to make it easier for PC makers to support its chips.

Intel has been able to follow a different path thanks to its market dominance, and releases new CPU sockets yearly.

So the transition to a new socket type, and the level of support it receives, are important indicators of AMD's new status as a leader in the CPU market, rather than a follower.

In addition, AMD's digital home media sharing platform, AMD Live, will be formally launched at the show.

See also:

AMD sets out quad-core stall

Chip giant promises up to eight processors on the go at once  02 Jun 2006

Acer launches Ferrari 5000 and 1000 series

In pole position with AMD Turion 64 X2 performance laptop systems  05 Jun 2006

AMD to build $2.5bn factory in Germany

Chipmaker seeks to steal Intel's business  30 May 2006

VIA touts its chips for Ultra-Mobile PCs

VIA says its chips enable smaller devices with longer battery life  26 May 2006

Taiwan sees bright future for solar cells

Huge investments in renewable energy as oil prices bite  26 May 2006

AMD and Intel want IT to drive social change

Chip manufacturing giants both challenge the industry to do something to help the world’s poor  15 May 2006

Intel lifts lid off Core 2 Duo

First Intel chips scheduled to use the new Core micro-architecture  09 May 2006

Intel seeks to limit AMD case

AMD may not be able to draw on evidence of alleged anti-competitive practices overseas  05 May 2006

Taiwan enjoys record breaking electronics sales

Let the good times roll  03 May 2006

AMD gains on Intel

More firms are backing AMD processors as sales soar  13 Apr 2006

Taiwan milks Intel's marketing clout

Country has underperformed in IT markets, says science minister  12 Apr 2006

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