Smart Cards Get Smarter: Market Sees Strong Growth

Although the growth in the smart card integrated circuit (IC) market was erratic over the last five years, it received a strong boost with the explosive, yet unexpected, growth in the subscriber identity module (SIM) segment in 2003 and 2004. The uptake of Europay, MasterCard, and Visa (EMV) cards is increasing and this is significant enough to drive continued growth in the overall market.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan (http://www.smartcards.frost.com), World Smart Card IC Markets, reveals that revenues in this market totaled $2,098.9 million in 2004 and projects to reach $4,188.1 million in 2010.

If you are interested in a virtual brochure, which provides manufacturers, end users, and other industry participants an overview of the latest analysis of the World Smart Card IC Markets – then send an e-mail to Trisha Bradley – Corporate Communications, at trisha.bradley[...]frost.com with the following information: your full name, company name, title, telephone number, fax number, and e-mail address. Upon receipt of the above information, an overview will be sent to you via e-mail.

“However, the surge in growth is not solely due to the SIM segment,” say Frost & Sullivan Senior Industry Analysts Anoop Ubhey, Jafizwaty Ishahak and Karthik Nagarajan. “Other areas, especially government and identification (Gov & ID), have also shown great potential for the future and are likely to see large rollouts in the next two to four years, although they are not mass markets today.”

The Gov & ID sector includes applications such as national and corporate ID cards, healthcare, e-passports, driving licenses, and military and police cards. Given that security concerns are increasing by the day for many countries, these applications will drive strong global growth over the next 10-15 years.

“However, one of the major hurdles for global success in this space is privacy, which poses a significant barrier to large-scale projects,” notes Ishahak. “Proposals to issue national ID cards in some countries are met with severe opposition from various civil liberties and privacy concern groups.”

Such projects require massive databases containing personal information on citizens, leading to concerns about their integrity and security. Getting public approval for such revolutionary initiatives is a great challenge for governments and calls for huge efforts on their part to protect personal privacy and data security by providing adequate safeguards against potential abuse and failures of the system.

Along with these challenges, the smart card IC market is facing changes in the value chain that threaten to spark off volatile relationships among participants.

The traditional horizontal value chain of semiconductor vendors to smart card manufacturers to card issuers is changing as some semiconductor manufacturers are directly approaching card issuers without the consent of their traditional customers, the smart card manufacturers, known as the big 4.

“These major customers no longer account for the bulk of IC shipments in the banking arena,” observes Ubhey. “This trend appears to be particularly visible in regions such as Eastern Europe, Latin America, and some parts of Asia, all of which hold substantial opportunities for semiconductor manufacturers.”

While these changes bring increased opportunities for smaller participants, the larger ones need to monitor the potential threat they pose very closely. Underestimating the smaller participants is not a wise move, keeping in mind the dynamics of this evolving market.

“Companies will have to focus not only on beating the competition in terms of price, volume, and innovation, they will also have to identify promising new customers,” says Ubhey. “Relying on the big 4 customers is not likely to guarantee leadership in this market anymore.”

World Smart Card IC Markets provides exhaustive unit shipment and revenue forecasts across different memory and microcontroller smart card ICs at global and regional levels. Comprehensive analysis across types of chips, memory density, and applications will help companies gain a clear understanding of market penetration, revenue potential, and growth opportunities. Executive summaries and interviews are available to the press.

Frost & Sullivan, a global growth consulting company, has been partnering with clients to support the development of innovative strategies for more than 40 years. The company's industry expertise integrates growth consulting, growth partnership services, and corporate management training to identify and develop opportunities. Frost & Sullivan serves an extensive clientele that includes Global 1000 companies, emerging companies, and the investment community by providing comprehensive industry coverage that reflects a unique global perspective and combines ongoing analysis of markets, technologies, econometrics, and demographics.
World Smart Card IC Markets
F264

Contact:
Trisha Bradley
Corporate Communications – North America
P: 210.247.3870
F: 210.348.1003
E: trisha.bradley[...]frost.com

Kristina Menzefricke
Corporate Communications – Europe
P: +44 (0) 20 7343 8376
F: +44 (0) 20 7730 3343
E: kristina.menzefricke[...]frost.com

Donna Jeremiah
Corporate Communications – Asia Pacific
P: +603 6304 5832
F: +603 6201 7402
E: djeremiah[...]frost.com

Keywords in this release: Smart cards, integrated circuit, IC, subscriber identity module, SIM, Europay, MasterCard, Visa cards, EMV cards, Gov & ID, national ID cards, corporate ID cards, healthcare, e-passports, driving licenses, military cards, police cards, security, privacy, value chain, semiconductor vendors, smart card manufacturers, card issuers, research, information, market, trends, technology, service, forecast, market share


Agency: Frost & Sullivan


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