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."