Intel is the latest company to pull out of CES 2022 due to the quickly growing surge of COVID-19 cases.
“The health and safety of our employees, partners and customers is always a top priority," Intel told Tom's Hardware. "After consulting with health officials and in the spirit of Intel’s safety policy, our plans for CES will move to a digital-first, live experience, with minimal on-site staff. We encourage you to join us as we deliver all our CES content and experiences virtually via the Intel Newsroom .”
Intel has a number of events planned, including a press conference with Gregory Bryant, executive vice president and manager of the client computing group and Amnon Shashua, the founder of MobilEye ahead of the show on Jan. 4 in the Mandalay Bay hotel. That already had a livestream option, however, as does a separate MobilEye deep dive. Intel hasn't yet clarified how its events will be rescheduled.
Intel is typically a huge presence at CES, supporting a number of manufacturers that make computers and other technologies using its chips. This year, it didn't rent out the typical large booth space in the Las Vegas Convention Center prior to pulling out of the show.
The chipmaker is following Amazon, T-Mobile, Lenovo, AT&T, Waymo, Facebook parent Meta and other exhibitors that have decided not to attend the show in person over the past few days. Additionally, many media outlets, including Tom's Hardware , TechRadar , Engadget , Gizmodo and PCMag have chosen to cover the show virtually.
CES had hoped to make a grand return to Las Vegas this year, with an in-person conference after a virtual show in Las Vegas in 2021, but a fast-moving surge of COVID-19 cases due to the Delta and Omicron variants is dampening some of that excitement. At the moment, the show is still scheduled to run from Jan. 5 to Jan. 8, 2022.
CES organizers are mandating vaccines for in-person attendees and recommending testing. The company will be providing rapid tests to attendees at certain badge pickup areas. Earlier this week, Gary Shapiro, the head of the Consumer Technology Association, which runs CES, told the Associated Press that the chip shortage was causing more cancellations than COVID-19, though most companies have cited health risks as the reason for their cancellation.
