Date: 30th July 2010
ABI: 5.2 billion MCU and memory-based
smart cards shipped in 2009
ABI research has estimated that about 5.2 billion microcontroller
and memory-based smart cards were shipped in 2009 into applications
such as SIM cards, payment and banking, government ID, and
transportation, among others. The IC market was worth $1.7
billion at the same time.
Gemalto maintained its clear position as the number one
manufacturer, with an estimated 33.8% market share, while
Morpho (previously Sagem Orga) gained the most market share
(up 1.8%) to consolidate its fourth position. Meanwhile,
with 26.3%, Infineon continued to account for the most revenue
among the IC manufacturers while in unit terms, Samsung's
strong position in SIM cards saw it capture 34% of IC volumes.
Principal analyst John Devlin says, "Last year's market
conditions were unusual. While the smart card market largely
weathered the recession in terms of consumer demand, the
IC market took a hit on two fronts. First, both card manufacturers
and issuers ran down their inventories as they assessed
the impact of the credit crunch. Second, price pressure
increased greatly as IC manufacturers looked to fill plant
capacity and maintain orders. Combined, these factors saw
the value of the market fall by more than was expected."
Devlin concludes, "New revenues are coming from contactless/dual-interface
cards and more applications require the greater security
offered by smart cards. There remains a small but solid
memory-based market but higher-end secure microcontroller
ICs and embedded solutions are driving the new growth. As
a result of this and re-stocking inventory, we forecast
that IC revenues will grow nearly 14% in 2010."
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