Smart card is a device which comprises of an embedded integrated circuit, either in the form of a secure microcontroller, a solitary memory chip, or an equivalent intelligence with internal memory. A general smart card has up to 346 kilobytes of ROM, 8 kilobytes of RAM, a 16-bit microprocessor, and 256 kilobytes of programmable ROM. The card may either connect to a reader through direct physical contact, or with a remote contactless RF interface. Smart cards are available in a number of form factors, such as key fobs, plastic cards, watches, SIMs used in GSM phones, as well as USB-based tokens.
The current tech-savvy global population demands efficient, secure and fast payment transaction, and with the global push towards cashless payments, smart cards are expected to be the way ahead, since they offer much convenience to the consumers. The features provided by smart cards help in maintaining privacy of the owner, which include authentication, encryption, secure data storage, strong device security, biometrics and secure communications, among others. The market for smart cards is expected to witness very positive growth in the near future, on the back of this critical aspect.
The growing prevalence of IoT in various major sectors such as healthcare, manufacturing and education is expected to be a major driver of the smart cards market in the near future. According to Eurosmart, smart card shipments are expected to exceed 10 billion units in 2020, and the positive growth will be there for the long term, aided by the projected active connections of IoT becoming 25 billion by 2025. Smart cards are expected to expand their presence in the fields of e-commerce and personal finance in the coming years.
Smart cards are expected to become a mainstay in the retail segment, as they help in performing faster transactions and reduce checkout time. Smart card technology also has low manufacturing and handling costs, which helps in reducing the costs of operation. Smart cards also find application as transit passes, which are in use by many public transit operators around the globe; examples include Singapore’s CEPAS, London’s Oyster card and San Francisco’s Clipper card. Additionally, some operators offer points for usage that can be exchanged at certain retailers for various benefits, thus encouraging their adoption.
Based on type, the smart cards market is segmented into contact cards, contactless cards and multi-component cards. The contact cards segment is anticipated to show substantial growth in the coming years, as they are in very common use as ATM cards, SIM cards and credit cards, and the lower costs involved are expected to drive this segment. The multi-component cards are expected to show substantial growth through 2025, as they offer faster processing speed and enhanced data security. Multi-component cards are used for specific market solutions, such as vault cards, fingerprint cards and OTP display cards.
In terms of component, the smart cards market is segmented into memory-based cards and microcontroller-based cards. Microprocessor-based smart cards can hold high data volumes that are accessible by a dynamic or fixed OS. The segment is driven due to features like fraud prevention capabilities and longer lifespan. Memory-based smart cards store, read and write data to a specific location. Memory-based cards find use in the retail and banking sectors.
Smart cards find application in various major sectors such as retail, BFSI, telecommunication, healthcare and government. The data protection and secure data transaction capabilities of smart cards have made them a highly attractive proposition for the BFSI sector. The financial services segment is expected to account for 32% of the market in 2020, according to Eurosmart. The telecommunication segment is a major application area of smart cards, in the form of SIM cards. SIM cards enable security in subscriber authentication and mobile value-added services, while also allowing international roaming across networks. This segment is expected to account for more than half of the overall smart card sales by 2020.
Asia Pacific is anticipated to be a major regional consumer for the smart card technology in the coming years. The growing digitization across economies, coupled with government initiatives to go cashless in major economies such as India, have led to growing demand for smart cards in the region. Europe and North America are also expected to contribute substantially to the overall market revenue, owing to their superiority in technological advancements and the presence of major players such as American Express and Atos SE, in these regions.
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Recent Trends and Developments
The current outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic has led to a shift in the purchasing behavior of consumers in the United States, which has led to a high demand for contactless payments, according to a 2020 American Express digital payments survey. The study states that 58% of the consumers who have used contactless mode of payment are more likely to use it much more frequently, with 50% of those surveyed being of the opinion that using contactless is much safer for personal health as compared to using cash, or inserting and swiping a card. The market for contactless smart cards can thus be expected to be in much higher demand in the post-coronavirus environment.
In May 2020, CPI Card Group and Oxygen collaborated to develop the latter’s first personal and business debit cards. The collaboration involved development of two packages with clean and crisply-designed vertical cards that arrive nested in interactive packaging. Moreover, in January 2020, CPI highlighted its dual interface metal card solution, which offers contactless capability. These cards offer multi-directional contactless read-ranges with the ability to communicate with a payment reader regardless of how the card is held.
In April 2019, Thales completed the acquisition of Gemalto, which enables the former to develop solutions for addressing areas such as unmanned air traffic management, data and network cybersecurity, airport security or financial transaction security. Gemalto is now one of Thales’ 7 global divisions, called Digital Identity and Security (DIS).