Computex 2013 attendance flat over 2012

The show had fewer exhibitors occupying less space than in 2012

The number of people who visited Taiwan's Computex exhibition this year appears to have failed to meet the expectations of organisers and was largely unchanged from last year.

In a statement issued on the final day of the five-day event, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council said attendance is expected to reach "over 130,000". Last year's Computex attendance was 130,013 and this year organizers had been hoping for "over 140,000" visitors.

Attendance was up in one important area. The number of international visitors was 38,300, a rise of 1,800 on Computex 2012.

Those who did attend found a slightly smaller exhibition than in previous years. A total of 1,724 exhibitors occupied 5,042 booths at the event compared to 1,800 exhibitors and about 5,400 booths at the 2012 event. As a result, organizers cut an entire exhibition hall -- Hall 2 -- from this year's show.

Computex is the premiere showcase for Taiwan's PC and electronics manufacturing industry, but the decline of the desktop PC has hit the show. Companies that make PC components and desktop computers are typically among some of the largest and most prominent exhibitors at Computex.

Despite the smaller size, the show remains one of the most important fixtures in the international IT trade show calendar. Intel used this year's event to launch Haswell, the latest version of its laptop processor that brings power savings on previous chips. Several PC makers also unveiled Haswell laptops.

Martyn Williams covers mobile telecoms, Silicon Valley and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Follow Martyn on Twitter at @martyn_williams. Martyn's e-mail address is martyn_williams@idg.com

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Tags hardware systemscomputexTaiwan External Trade Development Council

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