Chip-Card Growth To Increase
techweb.com 
(11/23/98, 5:31 p.m. ET)
By Staff, Semiconductor Business News
Chip-card market growth will be strongest in the United
States and Japan during the next four years, according
to a new study by Dataquest.
The report predicts U.S. chip-card revenue will grow
from about $20 million in 1997 to $532 million in 2002,
while Japanese sales will go from $14 million to $390 in
the same time frame.
The Dataquest report also concluded smart-card
revenue in the chip-card market will represent about 70
percent of the total business worldwide in 2002
compared with about 56 percent in 1997. Smart cards
contain processor chips along with memory-storage
capabilities.
Despite the strong growth rates in the United States and
Japan, Europe is expected to remain the geographical
market for chip cards with nearly 49 percent of the
revenue coming from that region, according to
Dataquest's report. In 1997, Europe's chip card
consumption represented about 77 percent of the
world's market, the report says.
"Chip cards have entered a stage of explosive growth,
which will see sales expand more than fourfold over a
five-year period," said analyst Jonathan Cassell, who
was responsible for the Dataquest study. "Driving this
growth will be the worldwide proliferation of chip-card
technology, combined with expansion of chip cards into
new, high-value, high-growth applications."
The report found Gemplus of France was the world's
top supplier of chip cards. In 1997, Gemplus' total
revenue exceeded $590 million. |
