AMD Among Latest to Go Virtual-Only, as CES 2022 Exodus Continues

With CES 2022 exhibitor move-ins already underway about a week out from the opening of the Jan. 5-8 event in Las Vegas, health and safety concerns sparked additional exhibitors to say they will forego physical participation in the show due to the spread of COVID-19's highly transmissive omicron variant. "One week to go!" tweeted CTA Executive Vice President-CES Karen Chupka Tuesday evening. "It’s beginning to look like CES."

Except for Advanced Micro Devices, the new CES 2022 departures were mostly those of secondary and tertiary exhibitors, and the show by and large was holding on to the big legacy CES brands that have anchored the Las Vegas Convention Center's Central Hall for years. CTA is "mindful of concerns" that CES 2020 could be a superspreader event for the omicron variant, wrote CEO Gary Shapiro Christmas Eve on LinkedIn. "We have consulted with experts, both medical and analytical, and have been advised that with our health and safety protocols infections should be minimal."

But AMD was the biggest new name apparently not buying Shapiro's health and safety messaging, pivoting to a digital-only show involvement. Though AMD CEO Lisa Su wasn't a listed CES 2022 speaker, she keynoted the in-person CES 2019 and again the virtual-only CES 2021. She's scheduled to host AMD's Product Premiere livestream Tuesday at 10 a.m. EST. “After careful deliberation, AMD has decided to cancel our in-person presence at CES 2022 in Las Vegas and will instead transition to a virtual experience,” confirmed a spokesperson by email Wednesday. "While the AMD 2022 Product Premiere was always planned as a digital-only livestream, our in-person engagements will now transition to virtual in the best interest of the health and safety of our employees, partners, and communities."

The “expansion” of COVID-19 forced Mitsubishi’s decision to cancel its “in-person attendance” at CES 2022 and to “only participate in the exhibit virtually,” announced the company Tuesday. Mitsubishi said only a week earlier it would mount an exhibit in the Las Vegas Convention Center’s West Hall under the theme, “smart society.” Going against the grain of companies dropping out, the Japan External Trade Organization, in a separate announcement, said 52 Japanese startups will exhibit at CES 2022, double the number at the last physical CES in 2020. Forty companies will exhibit in the Japan pavilion of the Eureka Park area for startups, the rest in a second Japan pavilion on the Venetian Expo's second level, it said.

CES 2022 lost two autonomous driving lidar sensor developers Tuesday and Wednesday when Velodyne and Cepton dropped their onsite exhibits. The health and safety of Velodyne's "employees, partners and the public are the topmost priorities for Velodyne and were the primary factors in the company’s decision" not to participate in person at CES 2022 due to the "surge in COVID-19 infection rates," said Velodyne Tuesday. Though Velodyne was "looking forward to connecting in person at CES 2022, to stay true to our commitment to safety, we’ve determined the most responsible course" was to stay away, said CEO Ted Tewksbury. Velodyne will host a virtual CES news conference Jan. 5 at 11:45 a.m. PST.

Cepton decided to cancel its "in-person presence" at CES 2022 due to concerns over "surging cases" of COVID-19 and omicron in the U.S., said the company Wednesday. “Canceling our physical presence at CES 2022 was a tough decision for us, but the safety of our employees and customers remains our foremost concern, and we believe it is the right decision," said CEO Jun Pei. "Cepton will move all in-person communications online."

Due to the rapidly spreading omicron variant that brought “a surge of COVID-19 cases” to the U.S. since the start of December, MSI’s “on-site CES physical presence in Las Vegas will be canceled for the safety of all employees, customers and fans,” said the Taiwanese gaming brand Tuesday. MSI “will join the show virtually with our online product launch,” said Vice President-Marketing Sam Chern.

Though the past two years have been "very challenging," Playwire has "always been focused on maintaining a safe work environment for our team and partners," tweeted the machine-learning-based "revenue amplification" platform Wednesday. "With that said, we will no longer be attending #CES2022 due to growing health concerns."

Improving lives "using WiFi Sensing is our proud mission and one that extends to our employees, partners, and customers," tweeted Origin AI Wednesday. "Amid the surges in COVID-19 variants and new case counts, Origin has decided to not attend #CES2022 to protect everyone’s health and safety."

D3 Engineering decided to cancel its "demo vehicle's presence" at CES 2022, and invited show attendees "to take a live virtual demo ride with one of our team members," starting the show's opening day Jan. 5, tweeted the autonomous driving company Wednesday. The decision was made "after careful consideration, to prioritize the health and safety of our innovators," it said.

There were traces of evidence Wednesday that the growing CES 2022 exodus was beginning to have a ripple effect on the broader Las Vegas service economy. "Looking for transportation to the most exciting convention in Las Vegas?" tweeted VIP Limousines of Nevada Wednesday. "We had some late cancellations on some limousines." Limo services like VIP customarily are sold out weeks in advance of a normal CES, and typically require a five-day-minimum booking at peak demand.