Google, Intel, GM to skip CES in person due to COVID fears

CES 2022 lost more major participants Thursday due to growing COVID-19 concerns, but the organizers of the world’s largest tech conference vowed to carry on, reported from MarketWatch.

Alphabet Inc.’s GOOGL, +0.34% GOOG, +0.13% Google and Waymo, Intel Corp. INTC, +0.67%, Lenovo Group Ltd. 992, -1.11% and General Motors Co. GM, +1.48% are the latest to cancel their in-person presence at CES, which is scheduled to be held the first week in January. The companies said they will proceed with all-digital, virtual presentations.

"Based on quickly rising COVID-19 infection rates, Waymo has made the difficult decision not to participate in person at CES 2022,” Alphabet’s self-driving car unit said Thursday in a statement. Google later said in a statement that it, too, will not have an in-person presence.
Intel also cited COVID concerns. "The health and safety of our employees, partners and customers is always a top priority. 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,” the chip maker said in a statement Thursday.

GM on Thursday said it has "decided to move to an all-digital approach,” though CEO Mary Barra will still make a keynote speech Jan. 5, and the auto maker will reveal the Chevrolet Silverado EV in a digital presentation.

Lenovo bowed out Wednesday night.
Earlier this week, Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. FB, +1.45%, Twitter Inc. TWTR, +0.59%, Amazon.com Inc. AMZN, +0.02% and AT&T Inc. T, +0.36% said they would not attend in person.

T-Mobile USA TMUS, -0.54% it will remain a CES sponsor, but will drastically reduce its in-person presence, the telecom company said in a statement Tuesday, adding that CEO Mike Sievert will no longer deliver a keynote address.

Despite the rash of cancelations, Consumer Technology Association President Gary Shapiro said in a statement Thursday that the show will go on. "Given CES’s comprehensive health measures — vaccination requirement, masking and availability of COVID-19 tests — coupled with lower attendance and social distancing measures, we are confident that attendees and exhibitors can have a socially distanced but worthwhile and productive event in Las Vegas, or while experiencing it online,” he said.
Last year, the pandemic forced CES to go entirely online.

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