On October 13, 2026, CEATEC — Japan's largest and most influential IT and electronics trade show, and frequently described as "Asia's CES" — opens its four-day run at Makuhari Messe in Chiba, on Tokyo's doorstep. The 27th edition arrives under the theme "Transformation — Where Companies, Industries, and Society Evolve," and the organiser, the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association (JEITA), is using it to make a specific argument: that the next phase of industrial progress is less about individual gadgets and more about cross-industry co-creation around robotics, mobility, AI and the digital backbone of everyday life.
The numbers signal momentum. CEATEC 2026 brings together 821 companies and organisations, up from 810 in 2025, of which 338 are first-time exhibitors — 41% of the total. Most strikingly, 246 startups and university research institutions are exhibiting, the highest since records began in 2014, suggesting the show is becoming a genuine launchpad for early-stage deep-tech rather than only a stage for incumbents. International reach is also up sharply: 194 overseas exhibitors from 31 countries and regions, against 156 from 29 a year earlier. The organiser expects more than 110,000 visitors across the four days.
The show is structured around four exhibit zones. The General Exhibits (Halls 4–8) gather established technology and solution providers. The X (Transformation) Park (Halls 4–6) is where social challenges and industry change are staged, anchored by four organiser-run theme pavilions: a DX Pavilion for Everyday Life, an Ocean Digital Society Pavilion using AI and IoT to open the "blue economy," a Space Co-Creation Pavilion linking private space development to Society 5.0 infrastructure, and a Digital Mobility Society Pavilion on autonomous driving and data integration. The Next Generation Park (Hall 4) is the startups-and-research showcase, and the Global Park (Halls 4–5) surfaces technology from around the world.
A second year of co-location with the Japan Mobility Show Bizweek — run by the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA) — is the edition's strategic spine. On opening day, the chairpersons of JEITA and JAMA hold a special dialogue on "Toward Japan's Future Society," a staged handshake between the digital and automotive industries that reflects how blurred those boundaries have become. More than 200 conference sessions run alongside the exhibition, spanning social-issue solving and future-building.