Nvidia Pulls Out of MWC 2020 Over Coronavirus, Despite Being a Major Sponsor of the Trade Show

Nvidia was a major sponsor of the conference, and had partnered with the GSMA conference organising body to host an entire track.

By Indo-Asian News Service | Updated: 8 February 2020 14:25 IST

Photo Credit: Nvidia

Nvidia joins a list of major names that have pulled out, including Ericsson and LG

Highlights

Nvidia took the decision despite being a major sponsor of MWC 2020
Ericsson had pulled out of MWC 2020 earlier this week
Nvidia was due to showcase AI and 5G tech at MWC 2020

After South Korean company LG electronics and the Swedish telecommunication giant Ericsson, now graphics giant Nvidia has announced that it is not sending its employees to the Mobile World Congress 2020 in Barcelona due to the public health risks around the coronavirus.

Nvidia was a major sponsor of the conference, and had partnered with the GSMA conference organising body to host an entire track of 10 sessions and roundtables around artificial intelligence, The Verge reported on Friday.

"Given public health risks around the coronavirus, ensuring the safety of our colleagues, partners and customers are our highest concern. We have been looking forward to sharing our work in AI, 5G and vRAN with the industry, we regret not attending, but believe this is the right decision." the company said.

With the rapid spread of the Novel Coronavirus showing no signs of slowing down, the industry watchers has also warned that others may soon follow suit.

According to Ericsson, the company has already taken a number of precautionary measures to ensure the health and safety of its employees and to minimise the impact on the company's operations.

"After an extensive internal risk assessment, Ericsson has decided to take further precautionary measures by withdrawing from the MWC Barcelona 2020, the largest event in the telecom industry," it said in a statement.

Ericsson said as one of the largest exhibitors, it has thousands of visitors in its hall each day and even if the risk is low, the company cannot guarantee the health and safety of its employees and visitors.

To showcase the company's portfolio and innovations, Ericsson will take the demos and content created for the MWC Barcelona to customers in their home markets with local events called "Ericsson Unboxed".

Earlier, LG Electronics said in a statement that with the safety of its employees, partners and customers foremost in mind, "LG has decided to withdraw from exhibiting and participating in MWC 2020 later this month in Barcelona, Spain".

The MWC organiser GSMA said that it is monitoring and assessing the potential impact of the coronavirus on its events held annually in Barcelona, Shanghai and Los Angeles and as well as the Mobile 360 Series of regional conferences.

After report of ZTE cancelling a press conference at the MWC 2020 in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak surfaced, the Chinese tech major clarified that it will still have booth space at the show and that its participation in the event will go "as planned".

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