Twenty-five years ago, Newegg launched as a website for people who would rather build their own PC than buy one off a shelf. This June, we brought that spirit back to where the industry gathers every year. At COMPUTEX 2026 in Taipei, Newegg marked its 25th anniversary with its largest show presence yet: four days on the floor at Nangang Exhibition Hall 1, a packed live championship, and a robot that makes coffee. Here is how it came together.
Newegg’s booth at Nangang Exhibition Hall 1, 4F, #L0429A drew steady crowds across all four days of COMPUTEX 2026.
A Booth Built for Builders
Our booth at Hall 1, 4F, #L0429A was designed around the two things our community cares about most: the hardware, and what you can do with it.
One side was a component showcase featuring new launches from across the Newegg marketplace. The other was an immersive sim racing experience built on racing rigs from Thermaltake and MOZA, running on ABS prebuilt PCs and MSI gaming monitors. Visitors didn’t just look at the gear; they sat down, gripped the wheel, and drove.
The booth also marked the debut of Newegg Simulator Builder, a new configurator on Newegg.com that lets sim racing enthusiasts spec and order a complete rig, the same way builders have always used Newegg to plan a PC. Alongside it, we showcased SellingPilot, our AI-driven platform that helps brands and sellers manage and grow across marketplaces.
The Robot Café: Where AI Meets the Real World
On June 2, we hosted a media meeting at the Robot Café near the entrance of the Nangang Exhibition Center, a collaboration between Newegg, Sensory AI, and Intel.
The star was Ella XR, an autonomous robotic barista that takes a conversational order and pulls a commercial-grade espresso, no human staff required. Under the hood, Ella runs entirely on Intel Core Ultra Series 3, with multiple specialized AI agents operating at once to handle the conversation, the operations, and the service, capable of serving up to 200 drinks per hour.
For Newegg, Ella is more than a novelty. The same system is available now through the Carota Marketplace on Newegg.com. It’s a real example of the path we’re building with our partners: experience an AI-powered product in the real world, then buy it directly through Newegg. CEO Anthony Chow was joined at the café by TAITRA Chairman James Huang, Intel General Manager Tasha Chuang, and Carota Founder and CEO Paul Wu to talk through what that future looks like.
Industry leaders join Newegg CEO Anthony Chow at the Robot Café, where Ella XR served AI-made espresso powered by Intel Core Ultra Series 3.
The Main Event: PC Builder x Mod Simulator Championship
On Friday, June 5, the final day of COMPUTEX, the show built to its finish at the 2026 Newegg PC Builder x Mod Simulator Championship. More than 1,000 people followed the action, a new record for the event, now in its fourth year and bigger than ever.
Newegg CEO Anthony Chow opened the morning with the idea at the heart of the whole thing.
“PC Builder is not just a competition. It’s a game of creativity. What we’re doing is something simpler but more powerful: making it possible for anyone to build their own gaming world.”
He was followed on stage by three partners whose histories are woven into Newegg’s own.
TAITRA Chairman James Huang reflected on a friendship and partnership that goes back years:
“Computex was born in 1981, the year IBM launched their PC, so Computex grew up in the PC era. I believe so did Newegg, born in 2001, and grown into the best platform for PC builders and gamers. Today’s PC Builder competition is Computex’s most fun event, and the most attractive to the younger generation. I really hope it not only continues every year, but gets bigger and bigger.”
Intel’s Robert Hallock, VP and GM of the Enthusiast Channel Business, made it personal:
“When I was 15, I delivered newspapers to collect money to build my first computer. To find deals on PCs, you went to pricewatch.com, and in 2001, this website called Newegg started popping up in the list. I built my entire first computer with Newegg. That relationship continues to this day. Newegg is a phenomenal force in this industry and an absolute icon.”
Thermaltake CEO Kenny Lin shared a strikingly similar origin:
“I started my business in 1999, and in 2001, when I first went to the United States, there was Newegg. Over the past 25 years, Newegg has become one of the global players in the DIY space, creating an important platform that connects brands, creators, and consumers. Sim modding is part of the racing community. It’s not the future. It’s a trend happening right now.”
Four Teams, One Clock, and a Few Curveballs
The speed-build competition brought together creators from around the world across four teams: Pedro, founder of the 15-million-member PCMR community (Portugal); world-record overclocker Takahiro Shimizu (Japan); tech YouTuber ScatterVolt (USA); and Taiwan’s own tech YouTubers Linda and Bear Hsiung as a duo.
The rules were simple and merciless: each team drew a randomly assigned parts list, then had 75 minutes to build a complete system and boot successfully into BIOS. Builds were judged on completeness, aesthetics, and system performance by a panel that included Bitspower USA CEO Kat, Thermaltake’s Andy Chan, and ASUS North America’s Deb Lee.
Then came the twist. Twice during the build, a “boss challenge” descended on the floor: surprise inspections, rapid-fire Q&A, and escalating obstacles like one-handed building and what the crowd lovingly called “cable management hell.” It tested not just skill, but composure under pressure.
The drama delivered. Shimizu drew a pre-installed liquid cooler and surged from behind to boot into BIOS first. Pedro followed close behind, slowed only by a display hiccup. The Taiwan duo powered on and reached BIOS at the buzzer, only for a CPU temperature warning to shut their system down in the final seconds. When the judges finished scoring across all three criteria, the classic PC build ended in something rare: a tie for first. Pedro and Takahiro Shimizu were named co-champions, sharing the title.
The Mod Simulator Showcase: PC Building as Art
Running alongside the speed build was the debut of the Mod Simulator showcase, a head-to-head between two of the world’s most inventive case modders, built on premium Thermaltake simulator hardware including the GR500 racing cockpit, the G15 direct-drive wheel and pedals, and a MOZA flight simulator kit.
USA’s Brian Carter built a fully custom WWII fighter-plane cockpit, rivets and all. Thailand’s Suchao Prowphong, founder of JPModified, went a different direction with a post-apocalyptic wasteland rig. When the builds were done, the two modders embraced and signed each other’s work, a fitting end to a showcase that was less about beating an opponent than about showing what’s possible. Carter took first place; Prowphong was named runner-up.
Mod Simulator showcase builders Brian Carter (USA) and Suchao Prowphong (Thailand) brought two wildly different visions to the same stage.
Twenty-Five Years In, Just Getting Started
By the time the trophies were handed out and the prize draws, more than NT$200,000 in hardware, were given away to the crowd, one thing was clear. The reason a room full of people will stand for three hours to watch others build computers is the same reason Newegg has lasted 25 years: this community genuinely loves this stuffhas a genuine passion for innovation and creativity.
Thank you to every competitor, every creator, every partner, and every person who showed up in Taipei, and to Intel, MSI, Thermaltake, and TAITRA for building it with us.
See you next year.
Champions, modders, judges, and partners close out the 2026 Newegg PC Builder x Mod Simulator Championship.
Contacts
Johnson Nei
Newegg Inc.
public_relations@newegg.com