This coming week, a ridiculous number of people will be in Las Vegas for the annual extravaganza that is CES. First held in 1967, and originally known as the Consumer Electronics Show, the event now covers so many technology segments and products that it’s either the show about nothing or everything, depending on your perspective. Expectations are that the crowd will top 130,000, which would make it the largest CES since Covid-19, and by a wide margin.
In the debut 1967 edition, which was held in New York City, CES featured modern technological marvels like turntables, TVs, and radios. This year, the show will include cars, boats, helicopters, computers, robots, streaming services, digital ad services, televisions, virtual reality headsets, consumer appliances, semiconductors, the Goodyear Blimp, Mark Cuban, Linda Yaccarino, the Wu-Tang Clan, Robert Downey Jr., and AI, AI, and AI. There will be more than 4,000 exhibitors spread across 2.5 million square feet of exhibit space, up 15% from 2023. And that isn’t counting random private meeting spaces in nearby Las Vegas Strip hotels.
I have a love/hate relationship with the show. It’s a fantastic opportunity to meet tech companies new and old, to see inventive but often ridiculous ideas, and to generally get up to speed on trends. It’s also completely exhausting—with meetings from dawn into the wee hours—and a logistical nightmare. There was less to see at CES two years ago, when attendance plunged on Covid fears, but at least you could get a cab.
Over the years, CES has been the launchpad for digital watches, camcorders, DVD players, and Atari Pong. There were also spectacular misses like 3-D TVs and Quibi. This year, the story will be the rapid emergence of artificial intelligence software and hardware.
Here’s a rundown on what to watch for at CES 2024:
Keynotes Galore: You can get a sense of CES’ breadth by looking at the long list of keynote speakers this year. There are a couple of tech stalwarts—
Intel
CEO Pat Gelsinger on Tuesday and
Qualcomm
CEO Cristiano Amon on Wednesday.
Siemens
CEO Roland Busch gets the opening keynote Monday night, a spot once held for 12 straight years by Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
Walmart
CEO Doug McMillon speaks Tuesday afternoon.
Also on the agenda are some unexpected choices: L’Oréal CEO Nicolas Hieronimus will open proceedings Tuesday morning. He’ll be talking about “beauty tech.” Gail Boudreaux, the CEO of
Elevance Health,
the health insurer once called Anthem, will give a Tuesday evening address on digital health. Wednesday’s roster includes Kisun Chung, the CEO of
HD Hyundai,
one of the world’s largest shipbuilders.
But also note who isn’t keynoting CES this year: auto makers. Internet companies. Or any of the Magnificent Seven. This show is a big platform, but if you’re
Apple,
Amazon,
Meta Platforms,
Alphabet,
Microsoft,
Nvidia,
or
Tesla,
you can make news without a glitzy keynote. (Nvidia is holding its own virtual event on Monday, discussing AI PCs, cars, and other topics.)
AI Everything and Everywhere: You don’t need me to tell you that AI will be everywhere at the show. It’s one of four themes laid out this year by the Consumer Technology Association, the trade group that convenes CES, along with mobility, sustainability, and “human security for all.” AI is an amorphous idea for a trade show, but you’ll see evidence of it everywhere, and it all starts with…
…Semiconductors: Intel,
Advanced Micro Devices,
Arm Holdings,
and Qualcomm will all be active at the show, talking about the AI PC, among other topics. Computer hardware makers like
HP,
Dell,
and
Lenovo
will be there, too.
Both the chip and PC companies have been pushing the potential for “AI at the edge,” the idea that AI software workloads can be handled by laptops and mobile phones—that not everything has to be in the cloud.
Synaptics,
Silicon Labs,
Mobileye,
Ambarella,
MIPS,
On Semiconductor,
and
Infineon
will be there as well, and they’ll all be talking AI.
AI for Cars: Cars, boats, tractors, bikes, trucks, and other wheeled vehicles will fill up the Las Vegas Convention Center’s West Hall—CTA says there will be more than 250 exhibitors in the mobility category, including Mercedes,
VinFast,
BMW,
Honda,
Kia,
and
Volkswagen.
(Along with Tesla,
General Motors,
Stellantis,
and Ford are skipping the show this year.)
There will be EVs and autonomous cars and weird personal-transport vehicles. There will also be a host of updates about auto makers’ push for “software defined vehicles.” And that means AI chatbots inside your car.
Expect announcements on automotive AI from Intel, Arm, Nvidia, and others. It’s all part of car makers’ push to add premium services to the in-cabin experience—to make cars an upgradeable platform attached to subscription fees and to wrest back control of the cockpit from Apple and Google.
Handy Tips! If you like big TVs, you should head to the convention center’s Central Hall, where
Samsung Electronics,
Sony,
and
TCL Technology
will have massive booths. If planes, trains and automobiles are your thing, check out West Hall.
The weird stuff is in Eureka Park, in the Venetian—these are tiny companies with card tables, not giant multimillion-dollar displays.
And did I mention that I’m moderating a panel on AI and content creation? That one is going to be the talk of the show.
Write to Eric J. Savitz at [email protected]
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