The past few days have been pretty quiet about CES, no doubt because of the holiday. The last big dropout came from Microsoft, who confirmed on Christmas Eve that she would no longer travel to Las Vegas for the event. That news was followed by similar announcements from GM, Google, Lenovo, Intel, T-Mobile, AT&T, Meta, Twitter, Amazon, TikTok and Pinterest.
A number of big names are still confirmed for next week’s show, including Samsung, LG, BMW, Qualcomm, and Sony. On December 23, the CTA found that “over 2,200” companies were still planning to attend the show. I want to say that I have heard anecdotally from a number of startups that have chosen not to participate, and also many who are still planning to be on the show in person.
Today, a few major companies have added their names to the list of the former, including AMD, MSI, OnePlus, and Proctor & Gamble. A spokesman for AMD confirmed the company’s decision in a statement to TechCrunch:
After careful consideration, AMD decided to cancel our personal presence at CES 2022 in Las Vegas and instead switch to a virtual experience. While the AMD 2022 product premiere was always planned as a purely digital live stream, our personal engagements will now be switched to virtual in the best interests of the health and safety of our employees, partners and communities. We look forward to sharing all of our exciting news as planned on January 4th.
OnePlus was not an official exhibitor at the event, but planned to hold an event in Las Vegas parallel to the big show. The company has since confirmed with TechCrunch that it will no longer hold a face-to-face event in Vegas amid growing concerns about the Omicron variant.
Gaming company MSI confirmed via Press release that it won’t be on the show. “Since December, the fast-spreading variant of Omicron has seen the US experience a surge in COVID-19 cases,” Vice President Sam Chern said in a statement. “The health and well-being of our employees, customers and fans are our top priority. We have therefore decided not to attend CES 2022 in person and will take part in the trade fair virtually with our online product launch. “
Credit: Proctor & Gamble
Proctor & Gamble, which used the event to showcase technology for brands like Gillette and Oral-B, announced its decision in a statement:
Since we started planning for CES 2022, the health and well-being of P & G’s employees and partners have been our top priority. While we recognize the major security protocols of the Consumer Technology Association, given the rapidly changing developments with COVID-19, we are cautioned about moving towards a purely virtual experience.
In an op-ed CTA chief Gary Shapiro, run by the Las Vegas Review journal on Christmas Day, has pushed back media coverage of big tech dropouts from the show, which he called the “drum of the press and other critics,” who only made history through theirs Tell drama and well-known companies. “
