[News] COMPUTEX 2026 Preview: From Intel Budget AI CPUs to CPO Momentum Fueled by NVIDIA Vera Rubin
COMPUTEX is set to take place from June 2 to June 5. The event will bring together CEOs from companies, including Qualcomm and Intel, along with senior executives from nearly 30 firms, as noted by Central News Agency. The lineup spans the full AI ecosystem and represents more than US$10 trillion in combined market value. According to Economic Daily News, COMPUTEX, once a major gathering for PC hardware giants, has become a stage for AI competition, with technology leaders riding a historic investment wave led by CSPs such as Meta and OpenAI.
From Intel’s Comeback to AI Bottlenecks, COMPUTEX Takes Shape
This year’s COMPUTEX will feature companies at the center of key industry shifts, with Intel and Qualcomm CEOs both set to deliver speeches at the event. Economic Daily News notes that Intel is regaining momentum, as Lip-Bu Tan builds stronger ties with U.S. President Donald Trump and seeks to restore Intel’s standing as America’s chipmaking leader, with the company’s share price reportedly rising fivefold within a year.
Meanwhile, Economic Daily News points out that Qualcomm is emerging as a rising challenger to NVIDIA, as it expands from smartphone processors into AI infrastructure. Bloomberg notes that Qualcomm has reached a deal with ByteDance to supply data center chips. Beyond the Snapdragon maker, Arm is also moving into selling its own chips, with Meta named as its first major customer, Economic Daily News adds.
NVIDIA’s presence is expected to be another major focus in Taiwan’s AI hardware calendar. According to Commercial Times, NVIDIA’s GTC Taipei will take place on June 1, as market attention shifts from GB300 to the next-generation Vera Rubin platform, which Huang has said will enter mass production in the second half of the year. The report adds that NVIDIA’s Arm-based N1X AI PC platform could make its debut, as Taiwan’s AI server, PC, and advanced manufacturing supply chains prepare for the next wave of AI factory expansion.
AI hardware bottlenecks are also set to loom large at COMPUTEX. As the report states, bottlenecks are spreading beyond memory chips, with Wiwynn, a server supplier to NVIDIA, expecting key component shortages to ease only by the end of 2027. CPU shortages are also drawing attention, driven by the rapid growth of AI inference, agentic platforms, and demand for networking chips used in data transmission. Separately, Beijing’s AI and chipmaking ambitions remain another key issue closely watched by the semiconductor industry.
Budget CPUs and NVIDIA’s PC Push Draw Attention at COMPUTEX
Among the notable products expected at COMPUTEX, PCMag says Intel and Qualcomm are both likely to introduce cheaper CPUs. Intel’s budget-focused Core 3 “Wildcat Lake” processors are designed for laptops, Chromebooks, and mini PCs, and are built on the same 18A process as higher-end Panther Lake chips, PCMag notes. Qualcomm is also preparing a budget PC push with its Snapdragon C processors, which are designed for laptops starting at $300 and emphasize battery life and basic on-device AI capabilities.
NVIDIA’s first consumer PC processors are also expected to draw attention. According to PCMag, the company is widely anticipated to unveil the flagship N1X and mainstream N1.
CPO and AI Infrastructure Take the Spotlight
Meanwhile, attention is also turning to NVIDIA’s next-generation Vera CPU and Rubin GPU platform, with AI servers and co-packaged optics (CPO) expected to be key themes. According to Central News Agency, server maker Wiwynn will partner with silicon photonics firm Ayar Labs and other ecosystem players to showcase the latest CPO optical interconnect technology.
Liberty Times notes that Largan, best known as an Apple lens supplier, will make its COMPUTEX debut with glass components for fiber array units (FAUs), highlighting its CPO progress. Economic Daily News adds that MediaTek will demonstrate 400Gbps-per-fiber CPO technology and MicroLED-based optical solutions for active optical cables (AOCs), offering copper-like reliability while cutting power consumption by 50%.
Notably, robotics is also getting a bigger spotlight at this year’s COMPUTEX. The show will introduce its first dedicated AI robotics zone, drawing nearly 60 exhibitors, Commercial Times notes.
Read more
- [Insights] What to Watch at COMPUTEX: Intel Gaming Handheld Chip, NVIDIA First Consumer PC SoC in Focus
- [Insights] As COMPUTEX Nears, Has x86 Already Won the PC Battle Against Arm?
(Photo credit: Computex)
