ABI Research anticipates massive growth in smart card shipments this year

New research from ABI Research forecasts 8.6 billion smart cards to be shipped worldwide in 2013; a combined number spanning all smart card markets. Of the total forecasted shipments, 16 percent are expected to use a contactless interface.

ABI attributes most of this growth to the increase in adoption of Government ID, transportation and ticketing and payment card systems. In 2013, ABI forecasts 59% of all contactless deployments will utilize a pure contactless interface, reducing to 38% in 2018.

According to the company, “The increase in dual interface adoption is apparents across multiple markets. IC vendors, NXP, Infineon and STMicroelectronics are positioned to offer the best combination of convenience and high-end security over multiple applications. Additionally, the increase in dual interface adoption will deliver greater margins benefiting IC and smart card vendors alike.”

ABI’s Market Data report focuses on the collection of primary data from leading manufacturers of smart cards and secure ICs. The data includes the installed base and annual shipments of smart cards and secure ICs by technology and interface type, by region and vertical markets.

“The increase in contactless adoption is not limited to a selection of markets, although it’s the banking and government verticals which are adopting contactless technology at a quicker rate, with the SIM market close behind,” Phil Sealy ABI Research analyst said. “ABI Research tracks new services and credentials regionally, including governments issuing new national ID and social welfare cards, MNOs with SIM-based NFC payment services and wallets, and banks jumping to next-generation dual interface EMV cards. As a result, ABI Research forecasts that dual interface shipments will exceed the 1 billion mark in 2015.”

Last year, in a Biometrics Research Note, Rawlson King forecasted that the market for electronic identity cards – for which smart cards are often used – will reach US$5.2 billion by 2015.

Smart cards often carry biometric data of the card holder and are finding their way into many workflow processes, identity programs among a long list of uses.

BluStor is an emerging player in the smart card market, currently developing a smart card with an 8GB capacity, to enable the downloading of apps and to verify identity absent of a data connection. BiometricUpdate.com recently had a chance to talk shop with CEO Finis Conner about how BluStor came to be, his ambitions as chief executive as well as what the future holds for his company.

Article Topics

banking  |  biometric cards  |  biometrics  |  eID  |  electronic identity cards  |  government  |  national ID  |  research  |  secure identification  |  social security