Update, June 12, 2020 (2:20 AM ET): We have updated the original article with the latest information about the ongoing impact of coronavirus on the tech industry. We’ve also updated the list of canceled or rescheduled tech events to reflect the status of Computex 2020.
Original article: As of June 2020, the number of confirmed coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in the world have surged well past seven million. More than 408,000 people have lost their lives to the deadly virus which continues to claim more victims on a daily basis. In the midst of this global pandemic, countries around the world have issued travel bans and tech companies are asking employees to work from home.
For instance, Facebook and Google have extended work from home until the end of the year. Twitter employees will also remain out of physical offices till at least September. Meanwhile, Apple and Microsoft have also closed offices and are getting work done remotely.
However, not everything in the tech world is in a bad place right now. Smartphone production around the world has started resuming and we’re also seeing new launches come about.
Still, be it because of travel bans, laws against mass gatherings, or simply for caution, multiple major tech conferences around the world are getting scrapped. This spate of event cancellations started with the Mobile World Congress 2020 which was scheduled to take place in February but got canceled at the last minute. A domino effect followed and one-by-one most major tech events, launches, and conferences of 2020 were delayed, rescheduled, or axed completely.
Here’s a list of all major tech events that were either canceled or postponed because of the coronavirus:
Tech events canceled, postponed, or going online due to coronavirus
- Mobile World Congress (MWC), February 24-27: Canceled
- SXSW, March 12-22: Canceled
- Game Developers Conference (GDC), March 16-20: Postponed to August 4-6
- Nvidia GPU Technology Conference, March 22-26: In-person event canceled. Online-only event
- Adobe Summit, March 29-Apr 2: In-person canceled. Online-only event
- IFA Global Press Conference (GPC), April 2-4: Canceled
- Google Cloud Next, April 6-8: Postponed, no new date set
- Red Hat Summit, April 28-29: In-person event canceled. Online-only event
- Dell World, May 4-7: In-person event canceled. Online-only event
- Facebook F8, May 6-8: Canceled
- Google I/O, May 12-14: Canceled
- Microsoft Build, May 19-21: In-person event canceled. Online-only event
- Computex 2020: June 2-6: Previously postponed to September. Now Canceled
- E3, June 19-21: Canceled
- Apple WWDC, Early June 2020: In-person event canceled. Online-only event
- HPE Discover, June 23-25: Still On
- IFA 2020, September 4-9: On schedule, but could be an online-only event
- Microsoft Ignite, September 21-25: In-person event canceled. Online-only event
- MWC Shanghai: Canceled, but could get rescheduled
We will update this article as and when we know more about the cancellation or postponement of any other upcoming tech conference. Have a tip about a big tech event getting scrapped? Drop us a line in the comments section below.
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