The growing spread of COVID-19 forces more and more companies to abstain from physical appearance in the CES 2022 trade show. CES will still go ahead as planned, mixing physical and virtual attendance.
The annual Consumer Electronics Show is one of the most prominent trade fairs in the world. It is the hottest place to demonstrate new technological gadgets.
With the 2021 edition taking place entirely online, organizers were eager to return to normality in 2022. Alas, the ongoing global pandemic seems to be landing yet another blow to carefully laid-out plans.
Amazon, who is one of the leading cloud computing providers, is also one of the latest high-profile names to pull out of the event.
One of its major competitors in the cloud world, Google, together with Microsoft, Meta, and Intel already canceled their live presence.
AMD and MSI also decided to participate only virtually.
Omicron Rages On
Not all companies divulged the reasoning behind their decisions, but those who did probably expressed sentiments shared by everybody.
Overall, the participants are concerned with the quick spread of the latest COVID-19 variation. The high infection rate Omicron displays as well as the surge in cases makes tech giants weary of exposing their employees to the risks associated with many people in a closed space.
To their credit, the CES 2022 organizers managed to invite many new companies to replace those set to participate only virtually.
Big names like Adobe, BMW, Bosch, Mercedes, and many others will still attend the tech show.
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