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By Wen-Yee Lee
TAIPEI (Reuters) - At Taiwan's annual Computex trade show next week, the spotlight is expected to fall, once again, on Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and the latest in artificial intelligence, but also on the potential destablising impact of higher U.S. tariffs.
Huang, who last year sparked "Jensanity" from avid fans at the fair, Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon and Foxconn Chairman Young Liu will be among top executives attending.
Computex, which runs May 20-23 and is expected to have 1,400 exhibitors, marks the first major gathering of computer and chip bosses in Asia since U.S. President Donald Trump threatened sweeping reciprocal tariffs in April, pushing companies to produce more in the United States.
"If last year's headline was AI PCs, this year it's probably going to be about collaboration, driven by the macroeconomics," said Ian Cutress, chief analyst at consulting firm More Than Moore.
Huang, who is scheduled to deliver a keynote speech on Monday, is expected to announce more Nvidia partnerships with AI server firms in Taiwan, such as Foxconn and Quanta.
"Obviously, Nvidia relies a lot on the Taiwanese ecosystem to deliver," Cutress said. "There may be some sort of nod to the political tariff situation."
Nvidia said in April it would produce AI servers worth $500 billion in the U.S. over four years, working with companies like TSMC, Foxconn and Wistron.
Nvidia and AMD also have to contend with tighter export controls on sales of advanced AI graphics processing units to China.
Qualcomm said it will provide updates on its AI PC developments while MediaTek plans to outline its vision for edge AI, which involves running AI software on devices near the data source, as well as cloud AI.
AMD will discuss its advancements in gaming and AI-powered personal computers.
Intel's new CEO Lip-Bu Tan does not plan to speak publicly at Computex this year but will host a private dinner with Taiwanese partners.
Taiwan's Advantech, the world's largest maker of industrial computers, will return after a decade-long absence with plans to showcase its AI systems.
Its chairman, K.C. Liu, said this month that Huang had done much to help the show evolve from being focused on consumer goods such as laptops to one that highlights technological advances and brings much-needed publicity to products for businesses.
"Taiwan has also changed," Liu said. "The entire industry has shifted toward AI, so it's no longer enough to focus solely on B2C products."
(Reporting by Wen-Yee Lee; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Brenda Goh and Edwina Gibbs)