The company also hoped to form partnerships with companies from outside Taiwan, but Taiwanese businesses were the main attendees, she said.

The company has not decided if it will attend next year, she said.

Some companies blamed the sluggish global economy for the apparent lack of deals, while other said fear of the swine flu may have kept potential buyers away.

Taiwan put several measures in place to guard against swine flu, including hand wipe stations at the front doors of the exhibition areas and infrared scanners capable of detecting fevers via heat that international airline passengers had to walk past on their way to passport control.

The number of new gadgets and announcements did not show any signs of slowdown from last year.