NXP supplies nearly half of all secure ICs in payment cards, according to industry analysts IHS

NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NASDAQ: NXPI), announced that it has extended its leadership in the market for secure ICs in payment cards with 48% market share in million units for 2013, growing from 32% in 2012. In its recent report, ‘Payment and Banking Cards Report – 2014,’ industry analyst IHS, a global leader in critical information and insight, reported that NXP notched a significant increase in total sales.

The figures represent the use of secure integrated circuits used in the production of credit and debit ‘smart cards’, and the report looks at the how payment cards are being developed and deployed around the globe. Use of secure ICs is not yet universal, but is growing as a proportion in both credit card and debit card applications. The report also projects future growth to 2019 and suggests that use of secure ICs will grow throughout the next five years.

There are close to 10 billion credit and debit cards in circulation globally, and approximately 50% of those are secure IC cards, also commonly referred to as EMV cards. The growth in this market is fuelled by the continuing IC card migration in China, the largest single card market country globally with 3.3 billion cards in circulation (majority magnetic strip), as well as recent migration to EMV in the US. Additionally, in well-established chip card markets like Europe and Australia, the move toward dual-interface or contactless technologies fuels further growth and is expected to represent 76% of the total bank card shipments in 2017.

In last year’s survey, NXP was on par in terms of shipments with a market share of 32%, the same as its closest competitor.  This year’s report shows that NXP has clearly taken the lead, with close to 20% more market share than its closest competitor. NXP has also increased its lead over all other players named in the report. This 49% growth in market share is faster than an overall market growth of 34% from an estimated 1.40 billion units in 2012 to 1.88 billion in 2013.

NXP offers a broad portfolio of secure IC solutions for the smart card market, and with digital identity theft concerns at an all-time high, it’s essential that personal information kept on payment cards is always protected.

“NXP is very pleased to be recognized as the global market leader in supplying secure ICs within the payment card sector and making a significant contribution towards the security of the global banking system,” said Brintha Koether, Director Payments at NXP Semiconductors. “We continue to focus developing best-in-class and innovative secure solutions for the rapidly growing EMV payment card market.”