Due to the Spread of Novel Coronavirus... Companies' Domino Effect of MWC Withdrawal

[Asia Economy Reporter Kiho Sung] Due to the impact of the novel coronavirus infection, the 'Mobile World Congress 2020' (MWC 2020) exhibition event in Spain at the end of this month is facing an emergency. This is because domestic large corporations are minimizing the scale of the exhibition, including canceling press corps operations.

According to the automobile industry on the 5th, Kia Motors is reportedly considering measures such as reducing the operation booth at the world's largest mobile exhibition 'MWC 2020,' held in Barcelona, Spain, from the 24th of this month. A Kia Motors official stated, "We are closely monitoring the situation considering local conditions," and added, "We are also internally reviewing options such as reducing the operation booth."

LG Electronics also decided on the same day to cancel its participation in the exhibition for safety reasons related to the novel coronavirus infection. Initially, they planned a major offensive by unveiling their ambitious new products for this year, the LG V60 ThinQ and LG G9 ThinQ, for the first time.

LG Electronics plans to hold a new product launch event later after monitoring the spread of the novel coronavirus infection.

SK Telecom also canceled the planned press conference with President Park Jung-ho and decided to operate only the MWC exhibition booth. Business meetings with overseas companies on-site are scheduled to proceed as planned. However, the number of on-site personnel will be minimized.

LG Uplus also canceled the press conference with Vice Chairman Ha Hyun-hoe that was to be held at MWC. Chinese company ZTE also scrapped its media briefing plan to unveil its flagship 5G smartphone.

The reason MWC has been directly hit by the novel coronavirus infection is due to the China risk. Last year, Chinese companies accounted for 30% of the companies attending MWC. Additionally, among the total 100,000 visitors, 30,000 were reported to be Chinese.

To make matters worse, as confirmed cases are rapidly increasing in Europe as well, the possibility of a large-scale infection outbreak at the event site cannot be ruled out.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.