The Show Went On: 5 Industry Takeaways From CES 2022

It’s been a day or two so we’ve had the chance to catch our breath after a whirlwind few days on the show floor, but CES 2022 wrapped on January 8th, 2022, and what a show it was! The list of no-shows was beyond notable: Amazon, AMD, Intel, Lenovo, Mazda, T-Mobile, AT&T, Mercedes-Benz and many others cited concerns over the Omicron variant surge in suspending in-person activations at the Las Vegas show, which is understandable. 

However, the story of CES 2022 goes deeper than who wasn’t there. We’re going to throw our hat into the ring and publish a “Best of CES” story, but from the POV of those of us in the global electronics supply chain. If you want an exhaustive look at all the new tech, The Wirecutter and The Verge have great overviews of the show. 

Supplyframe’s Major Takeaways From CES 2022

1. It Happened At All

It was nice to be in person again. Amazing, even. We understand why some people didn’t make it, but we’re grateful to the nearly 40,000 who did, and particularly grateful to Abbot Labs for providing onsite COVID-19 testing. Let’s hope we see the option for people to get together and geek out more in 2022.

2. Welcome to Your (Smart)Home

Connected devices and the IoT are nothing new. The big news out of CES in the smart home arena was the Matter Alliance. More than 220 companies have signed on to the open-source, unified standard for the smart home ecosystem. Tearing down the walls between devices and ensuring interoperability, security, and simplified setup is the plan behind this collective supported by giants like Amazon, Apple, Google, Samsung, Comcast, LG, and more. Expect 130+ products from over 50 companies when it launches towards the end of Q2 this year.

3. Soon We’ll All Have Chauffeurs

They won’t wear tuxedos, but pretty soon you’ll be able to have the car bring the car around, because self-driving adoption and tech is accelerating quickly. Of particular interest to those of us in b2b electronics is GM’s new Ultra Cruise technology. Why? Because it’s the first to market with Qualcomm’s 5nm Snapdragon Ride System. Other companies like Honda and Volvo will follow soon. Expect the pedal to stay to the metal when it comes to high-end chip demand.

4. A Packed Eureka Park

If the big companies decided to stay home, the startups showed up in full force. EurekaPark, CES’s home for startups, was in full swing. Entrepreneurs from across the globe meet up to pitch, learn, and hopefully discover new breakthroughs. Forbes has a nice POV on this year’s crop of exhibitors here.

5. Connections & Convergence

Really, the biggest news out of this year’s show wasn’t a thin monitor or a new GPU, it was the massive number of new digital connections that are on the frontier. Homes, healthcare devices, automobiles, toothbrushes–you name it, it’s getting a chip soon. And all those chips and semiconductors are going to have to get to the right people at the right time. It’s going to be a lot to keep track of and market intelligence will be essential.

Our Commodity IQ solution, for example, can help plan and monitor the complex sourcing and purchasing process.

That’s our take after two days on the floor at CES 2022. As our industry grows increasingly complex, come back here for more insights and clarity on the supply chain.