Taipei, June 5, 2007 (CENS)--Computex Taipei 2007 computer trade fair will likely pool business opportunities as lucrative as US$14-14.5 billion, compared with 2006 event`s US$12.7 billion, show organizer Taiwan External Trade Development Association (TAITRA) estimates.

The quasi-government TAITRA projects much-touted products, notably Vista, WiMAX, iPhone and Wii, will trigger new rounds of procurements aimed at replacing old machines with new machines, brining at least 10-15% more business opportunities than last year`s event.

The world`s second-biggest computer trade fair takes place from today until this Saturday at the Taipei World Trade Center, attracting 1,333 suppliers to showcase their latest products at 2,926 booths on showground. Both figures are slightly higher than last year`s.

TAITRA, to help Taiwanese PC makers snatch up business opportunities, has invited buyers with revenue exceeding US$100 million each from 27 countries including Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Egypt, Germany, Guatemala, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Mongolia, Holland, Nigeria, Poland, Romania, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, Dubai, Britain, Ukraine, and Uruguay to shop at the show.

TAITRA estimates the 2007 event will lure over 30,000 professional buyers. Prominent buyers include Ingram Micro Inc., Trigem Computer Inc., Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Alcatel-Lucent, Best Buy, Future Shop and Samtack. Ingram Micro is currently the world`s No.1 technology-product distributors and Trigem is South Korea`s No.3 computer retailer.

Ingram Micro is running procurement offices in 37 countries, turning out average revenue of over US$28.8 billion a year. The company plans to buy handheld TVs, touch-on LCD screens, household automation systems, and so on.

Samtack, Best Buy, Future Shop and Wal-Mart have put motherboards, VGA cards, central processing units, cases, network products, printers, notebook computers and desktop computers on shopping lists.

Alcatel will buy ADSL routers while Trigem Computer is interested in motherboards, wireless network cards, wireless keyboards and peripherals.

South African company Mustek will show up at the joint procurement conference. The company`s "MECER" branded computers are well known to South African consumers. The company procured US$300 million worth of computer parts from Taiwan last year, compared with its revenue of US$400 million that year.

TAITRA`s executives pointed out that on the first day of the show a joint procurement conference will be organized on the sideline of the show. They added that approximately 100 local manufacturers had signed up to meet with these buyers.

The Taipei computer trade show is among the world`s top three shows of its kind and has been always taken as a barometer for measuring second-half PC business.

Last year, a total number of 30,200 professional buyers attended the trade fair, which attracted 1,312 suppliers to demonstrate their latest products at 2,907 booths. The buyer number was up 7.8% from a year earlier, according to Taipei Computer Association, a co-organizer of the show.

To catch buyers` eyes, Taiwanese manufacturers display their best products. Heavyweight exhibitors include Acer, Asustek Computer, Hon Hai Precision Industry, VIA Technologies, Gigabyte Technology, Mitac International, CMC Magnetics, Ritek, and Inventec.

Industry watchers expected increased PC demands to bring Realtek Semiconductor, Etron Technology, Himax Technology, ENE Technology, ITE Tech, Elan Microelectronics, and Hotelk Semiconductor a good fortune at this show.

(by Ken Liu)