Organizers of the world's second biggest computer show, Computex Taipei, said this week during the 30th show that if the trade exhibition does not expand its venue space, the show may not be able to retain its high position. 'If (participating companies) cannot be accommodated in Taiwan, there are plenty of big exhibition halls in other Asian countries for them,' Moses Yen, the head of the Exhibition Department of the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) , told the Central News Agency during a recent interview. Although Computex posts small growth almost every year -- with 8 percent more booths this year than last year -- it still has a long way to go, Yen said. CeBIT, the world's largest show of its kind, draws 4,000-5,000 exhibitors to Hannover, Germany annually, while Computex has never topped 2,000, according to Chang Li, deputy secretary-general of the Taipei Computer Association (TCA), which co-hosts Computex. But the problem isn't as simple as just finding more exhibitors. 'Our problem is that we do not have enough space at the available halls, ' said Jeremy Horng, deputy executive director of TAITRA'S Exhibition Department. More than 100 companies could not exhibit at the event this year because of lack of space, Horng said. The government is already working to ease the problem by building an extension to the Nangang Exhibition Hall, which currently can accommodate 2,467 booths. The extension, which will be capable of accommodating a further 2,350 booths, is due to open in 2013, which will make the Nangang Exhibition Hall Taiwan's first international-level large exhibition hall. It will provide space for at least 5,000 booths. This year, Computex uses a combined 4,861 booths at the Nangang Exhibition Hall, Taipei International Convention Center (TICC) , Taipei World Trade Center (TWTC) Exhibition Hall 1 and TWTC Exhibition Hall 3. The government is also considering building another extension to the hall, but is concerned that the second extension might not be fully used all year round, Yen noted. Chang recently echoed Yen by saying that the government should consider the needs of Taiwan's largest exhibitions, rather than paying too much attention to smaller exhibitions. 'If you don't look at it this way, Taiwan will never be able to organize large activities,' he told reporters. Computex became the world's third largest computer trade show in 1989, three years after organizers moved the event to a bigger venue at the TWTC Exhibition Hall 1. It became the world's second largest of its kind after the U.S.'s COMDEX was canceled in 2004. This year's five-day Computex opened to industry professionals beginning Tuesday, and will be open to the public on its final day Saturday. More than 1,700 companies are exhibiting at the show this year and around 120,000 visitors are expected. In terms of its influence on the hardware industry, Computex is already the world's No. 1, as Taiwan has a well-established industrial supply chain, Chang said. Taiwan manufactures nearly 90 percent of the world's notebook computers. Chang, however, said another issue is the nature of the show. Computex has been focused mainly on business to business products, but in recent years, it has begun to be geared towards consumers. This will help it become more appealing, the organizers said. Many major exhibitors are showcasing some of the latest tablet PCs, 3D gaming notebook computers or e-readers at Computex this year, marking another step in Computex's expansion to cover consumer electronics products in recent years, Chang said. 