[UPDATE: Sony & Amazon Are Out] NVIDIA The First US Company To Pul

Several companies have decided to skip MWC due to Coronavirus fears, and NVIDIA has just joined that list. NVIDIA is actually the first US company that announced it’ll miss MWC, at least the first major US company.

NVIDIA is not the first company to pull out of MWC due to Coronavirus fears

NVIDIA thus follows the lead of Ericsson and LG, who both announced that they’ll skip MWC due to Coronavirus fears. ZTE also scaled back its presence, by canceling its press conference. Unlike Ericsson and LG, however, ZTE will still have a booth at MWC 2020.

It is also worth noting that Huawei is taking some steps as well. The company will still be present at MWC, but it is quarantining its executives, presenters, and service staff from China outside of the country for at least 14 days. In case you were wondering, the incubation period for Coronavirus is 14 days.

NVIDIA was actually going to have a huge presence at MWC. The company was a major sponsor of the event, and had planned to host 10 sessions and roundtables on artificial intelligence (AI). It also planned to host an ‘AI Edge Innovation Center’.

Sony is expected to announce something similar soon

If you thought NVIDIA is the last company to back out, well, you’re wrong. Sony is expected to announce the same thing really soon, a well-known tipster suggests.

Roland Quandt announced via its Twitter handle that Sony is backing out of MWC as well. He says that the company will reschedule its launch event, but that it will be an online-only event.

Sony still did not confirm this news, but is expected to do so during the day. We’ll update this article once that happens. Roland Quandt is usually spot on when it comes to information he shares, and we doubt he’d share something like this if it’s not accurate.

Coronavirus became a major threat to the lives of people both in China, and outside of it. The virus originates from China, and that’s where it did the most damage thus far.

China is attempting to prevent the virus from spreading any further, as are many other companies around the world. It’s not exactly surprising that various companies decided to cancel their MWC visit.

Coronavirus threat is real, and companies do not want to take any risks. They do not want to risk their employees, and other people who are attending the exhibit.

GSMA did confirm that MWC will go on as planned, though. The organization announced that additional security measures are being issued, but that the show will proceed as planned.

It remains to be seen who else will pull out of MWC before it starts, joining NVIDIA, LG, Ericsson, and so on.

UPDATE: Sony has officially confirmed the news.

UPDATE 2: Amazon has also confirmed that it’s pulling out of MWC 2020.