As the world’s largest consumer electronics and IT exhibition, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2026, approaches, global tech giants such as NVIDIA, AMD, Lenovo, and Siemens are gearing up for a fierce competition of visions to lead the era of artificial intelligence (AI). CES has now expanded beyond the domain of consumer electronics companies. Not only AI companies but also traditional corporations attempting to transform themselves through AI are using this platform to announce their reinvention. With the theme “Innovators Are Coming,” CES 2026 is expected to be more than just a showcase of new technologies; it will serve as a “real-world stage” to demonstrate how AI, when combined with the physical world, can fundamentally transform industries and daily life.

◆ “As Expected, Jensen Huang of NVIDIA”... The highlight of this year’s event is undoubtedly the appearance of Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA. On January 5, the day before the official opening (local time), Huang will deliver a special live keynote, effectively kicking off CES 2026. Although Jensen Huang’s event is not an official CES program, it attracts far more attention than any other event. It is even scheduled ahead of the official opening keynote. By making consecutive appearances at CES 2025 and now 2026, Jensen Huang has shifted the event’s focus around himself.

Special Live Speech One Day Before Opening
Blueprint of Evolved 'Agent AI' and More
Next-Generation GPU Roadmap Expected to Be Presented

Lenovo CEO Speer to Deliver Keynote
AMD and Siemens CEOs Also to Speak
Anticipation for the 'Innovators' AI Competition' Event

Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, is attending the 25th anniversary event of Nvidia's graphics card (GPU) 'GeForce' launch in Korea, held on October 30 at COEX in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, engaging with citizens. Photo by Jo Yongjun

During his keynote at CES 2025, Jensen Huang unveiled a consumer GPU and introduced the concept of “Physical AI,” where robots interact with the real world, earning praise for opening new horizons in robotics and autonomous driving. The AI industry now expects him to go beyond the evolution of Physical AI this year and present a concrete blueprint for “Agentic AI,” where AI independently makes decisions and takes action, as well as a roadmap for next-generation graphics processing units (GPUs). There is also speculation that he will introduce a new PC platform that combines GPUs and CPUs. At the 2025 event, Jensen Huang also generated significant buzz by criticizing quantum computers.

At this year’s event, NVIDIA will collaborate with CES’s newly introduced “Foundry” exhibition to showcase next-generation AI chips, along with demonstrations of technologies applied in robotics, autonomous driving, healthcare, and more. There is particular interest in the potential collaboration with Korean companies such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix-core partners in the AI semiconductor supply chain, especially for high-bandwidth memory (HBM)-as well as whether Jensen Huang will visit their booths. Meetings with the heads of Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motor Company, and SK Hynix are also anticipated. The keywords that emerge from CEO Huang’s remarks are expected to have a significant impact on the Korean semiconductor industry. At the 2025 event, Jensen Huang notably stated, “Samsung Electronics needs to redesign DRAM.”

CE S 2026 Official Keynote Speakers. From left to right: Roland Busch, CEO of Siemens; Joe Creed, CEO of Caterpillar; Lisa Su, CEO of AMD; Yang Yuanqing, CEO of Lenovo.

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◆ “Conquering the Sphere”... The moves by Chinese company Lenovo are also drawing attention. Although Lenovo is a Chinese company, it has been active as a global enterprise since acquiring IBM’s PC business in the United States. Yang Yuanqing, Chairman and CEO of Lenovo, will deliver his keynote at the “Sphere,” a landmark performance venue in Las Vegas. This marks the first time a tech company has rented out the entire Sphere for a CES keynote; in 2025, Delta Air Lines was the first to do so. Lenovo’s keynote at the Sphere is interpreted as an intention to visually showcase the era of AI.

Under the theme “Smarter AI for All,” Yang will unveil Lenovo’s hybrid AI vision, spanning from data centers to edge devices. According to the company, he will also introduce Lenovo’s collaboration to enhance the performance of the new “F1” race cars, which have become a new attraction in Las Vegas. By leveraging the Sphere’s overwhelming immersive screens, Lenovo is expected to dramatically illustrate how AI, through data centers, is revolutionizing industries and redefining the future computing environment.

◆ Lisa Su, Roland Busch, and Other Tech Leaders in an ‘AI Showdown’ = Moves to counter NVIDIA’s dominance in AI are also evident. Lisa Su, CEO of AMD, will deliver the official opening keynote at CES 2026, positioning herself as a rival to NVIDIA. Su plans to share innovation cases based on high-performance computing (HPC) and AI, and will announce AMD’s unique AI solutions and next-generation processor strategies to compete with NVIDIA.

Roland Busch, CEO of Germany’s Siemens, will also take the keynote stage. He plans to demonstrate how traditional industries such as manufacturing and mobility are being digitally transformed through the convergence of AI and the industrial metaverse. This suggests that AI is no longer confined to the software realm but is making deep inroads into the physical world, including manufacturing sites.

Traditional construction equipment manufacturer Caterpillar is also expected to declare its transformation into an AI company at this year’s CES. Joe Creed, CEO of Caterpillar, will explain how the company-whose brand name is synonymous with excavators-plans to lead the era of smart infrastructure.

The Consumer Technology Association (CTA), organizer of CES, has forecast that this year’s event “will mark a turning point where AI technology evolves from the laboratory into a tool for solving humanity’s grand challenges.”