Smart Card Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Type (Contact Cards, Contactless Cards, Multi-Component Cards), By Component, By Application, By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2018 - 2025

Industry Insights

The global smart card market size was estimated at USD 7.19 billion in 2015 and is expected to gain momentum over the forecast period. The growing adoption of Internet-of-Things (IoT) and advancements in micro-embedded electronics are anticipated to promote industry growth.

The increasing trend of organizations, to move toward the digitalization of payment processes and efficient storage of personal data, is instrumental in accelerating the industry growth. Smart cards or Integrated Circuit Cards (ICC) play essential roles in catering such needs.

Russia smart card market, by type, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million)

The rising consumer inclination toward cashless payments along with the increasing adoption of devices, with embedded circuits used in the healthcare, retail, BFSI, and hospitality sectors, are expected to positively impact the industry. In addition to this, technological proliferation has led to the development of innovative techniques such as contactless and multi-component card facilities.

Devices integrated with embedded circuit chips or microcontrollers enable organizations to facilitate secure payment facilities, authentication, and information storage to their consumers. Furthermore, the technology is instrumental in reducing operational costs as the manufacturing and handling costs are low.

However, high costs of incorporating chip cards and hesitance of payment merchants to adopt the capital-intensive point of sale (POS) terminal machines are expected to restrain the smart card market growth. Moreover, the development and manufacturing of these machines are cost-intensive and deter a vendor’s interests.

Type Insights

The contact type segment dominated the overall market and was valued at USD 4,675.6 million in 2015 and is anticipated to grow phenomenally over the forecast period. Lower costs of contact-based cards are the key reasons for segment growth.

The multi-component type is expected to emerge as the fastest-growing segment. The growth can be attributed to advantages such as faster processing speed and enhanced data security. Thus, it encourages consumers and payment merchants to incorporate contact type cards in their respective applications.

Smart Card Market Share Insights

Fraud prevention capabilities and extended durability benefits are presumed to drive the microcontroller-based segment demand. Moreover, the high data-usage capacity is driving consumer interests.

The growth in the memory-based segment can be attributed to its high data-storage capabilities, which make it a preferred choice across various applications. The two major sectors using memory-based cards are the retail and banking sectors.

Application Insights

The BFSI segment was valued at USD 1,191.0 million in 2015. The adoption of this product in banking and financial institutions offers several benefits such as personal data protection and secure data transaction.

U.S. smart card market, by application, 2015 (%)

Telecommunication is expected to dominate the application segment, owing to the increasing use of smartphones that promote mobile transactions. The segment occupied over 45% of the total market share in 2015. The growing usage of mobile devices promotes the use of SIM & data cards, mobile ticketing, and mobile-banking. The aforementioned telecommunication applications are significantly resulting in industry growth, globally.

Regional & Competitive Insights

The Asia Pacific region dominated the overall market and accounted for over 40% of the revenue share in 2015. The rapid digitization of processes across industries, such as retail, healthcare, government, and BFSI, has promoted consumers to adopt such products. Emerging business models in this region, incorporating IoT, aim to implement these cards for payment processes, subsequently fueling the regional industry expansion.

Prominent players dominating the market include American Express Company, Atos SE, CPI Card Group, Inc., Gemalto NV, Giesecke & Devrient (G&D) GmbH, Infineon Technologies AG, Inside Secure SA, NXP Semiconductors NV, and Texas Instruments, Inc., among others.

The industry players are primarily emphasizing on adopting inorganic growth strategies by acquiring and other players of the ecosystem. For instance, in December 2015, NXP Semiconductor N.V. acquired Freescale semiconductor, to strengthen its mixed-signal semiconductor business, thereby, increasing its market share.

Report Scope

Segments Covered in the Report

This report forecasts revenue growth at global, regional, and country levels and provides an analysis of the industry trends in each of the sub-segments from 2014 to 2025. For the purpose of this study, Grand View Research has segmented the global smart card market based on type, component, application, and region:

• Type Outlook (Revenue, USD Million; 2014 - 2025)

  • Contact Cards

  • Contactless cards

  • Multi-component cards

• Component Outlook (Revenue, USD Million; 2014 - 2025)

  • Memory-based

  • Microcontroller-based

• Application Outlook (Revenue, USD Million; 2014 - 2025)

  • BFSI

  • Government

  • Telecommunication

  • Retail

  • Healthcare

  • Hospitality

  • Others

• Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million; 2014 - 2025)

  • North America

  • Europe

    • Russia

  • Asia Pacific

  • RoW