http://www.digitimes.com/systems/a20050308PR200.html
CeBIT: the show readies to kick off, Taiwan sets new record
Vyacheslav Sobolev, DigiTimes.com, Hannover [Tuesday 8 March 2005]
Long acknowledged as the world?s leading technology tradeshow, CeBIT starts again this Thursday, March 10 in Hannover, Germany with the strongest ever attendance from Taiwan. According to preliminary data from organizers Deutsche Messe AG, 777 exhibitors will represent Taiwan this year, surpassing the 2004 record of 702 companies by more than 10%. Once again, and now for nearly a decade, Taiwan ranks as the number two exhibiting region after host Germany.
The world?s leading news agencies are already reporting from Hannover that an enthusiasm is returning to the industry, which is still thought to be able to generate stellar growth. After three slow years, CeBIT this year will welcome 6,270 exhibitors, up from 6,109 in 2004. After Germany and Taiwan, China has 310 exhibiting companies, the US 209, South Korea 202, Great Britain 193 and Hong Kong 176. For the first time, more than 1,600 companies have been registered directly from Asia and these companies will occupy about 39,000 square meters of floor space.
Around 480 Taiwan companies will demonstrate their solutions in so called ?theme pavilions? covering such areas as PCs and components, consumer electronics, digital imaging, industrial computers, fixed line and mobile communications, display technologies and storage devices and media. Totally there are 11 theme pavilions occupied by Taiwan companies this year. Deutsche Messe AG estimates that the net exhibition space reserved by Taiwan companies will exceed 20,000 square meters this year, up from last year?s 19,000 square meters and more than half of the space allocated to Asian companies.
The net exhibition space this year is up very slightly on last year, at over 316,00 square meters, Deutsche Messe AG reports. The organizers are expecting that the number of visitors will exceed 500,000 people.