To Avoid Upsetting the U.S.
With the United States-China battle for technology hegemony intensifying, a global ICT fair in Shanghai, China took a bitter blow.
Although the CES Asia 2019 opened in Shanghai on June 11, the presence of Korean companies decreased noticeably, with major domestic companies including Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motors opening small exhibition booths. In addition, all three Korean mobile carriers are not participating in MWC Shanghai 2019, the mobile Olympics scheduled to open in Shanghai on June 26.
In CES Asia, a Chinese version of CES which opened in Shanghai on June 11, more than 550 companies participate to showcase advanced automotive technologies such as 5G, artificial intelligence (AI), autonomous vehicles and connected cars, as well as augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and state-of-the-art robotic technologies. Some 30 Korean companies, including Samsung Electronics, which is a sponsor of the event, Hyundai Motor, Kia Motors and Hyundai Mobis, are participating, but their exhibition booths are much smaller than the ones run by Chinese companies.
Korean companies also show low participation in MWC Shanghai, an event that domestic smartphone companies mobile carriers used to participate. MWC Shanghai is a communication exhibition to be held from June 26-28, and it will be showcasing the latest technologies such as 5G, Internet of Things, AI, and big data this year under the theme of "Intelligent Connectivity."
In MWC Shanghai, Huawei and ZTE, as well as many U.S. and European telecommunications companies such as Ericsson, Nokia, Qualcomm, and Intel are participating, but three domestic telecom companies decided to skip it this year due to the United States-China situation. Among major Korean companies, Samsung Electronics' System LSI division will be the only participant in the MWC Shanghai.