Jul 12, 2016 According to the latest market report published by Persistence Market Research, titled  Global Market Study on Smart Cards: Established Players Are Focusing on Smart Card Products For Telecom Application In Emerging Economies to Gain Better Market Access over Forecast Period 2016 – 2024. Smart cards continue to gain traction in terms of application in sectors such as telecom, government, and financial services. Global smart card market volume is expected to surpass 9,715 Mn units in 2016, representing market value of over US$ 8,576.3 Mn.

Smart card demand is escalating owing to high volume of adoption for government identity cards. In addition, increasing adoption of EMV chip technology as the global standard for credit card and debit card payments is projected to boost global sales of smart cards.

Contact cards will continue to be the largest card segment in 2016 as well, representing 64.0% revenue share of the global market. Contactless card – another key card type segment – is expected to account for US$ 1,735.0 Mn in 2016, which is an increase of 13.3% over 2015.

Among all smart card component types, micro-controller cards segment is expected to continue to account for highest value contribution, representing 71.5% revenue share of the global market in 2016.

Asia Pacific will continue to lead, with revenue share increasing to 47.9% in 2016. Increasing adoption of SIMs, EMV cards for banking applications, and increasing adoption of multi-use e-IDs for transportation and government sectors is anticipated to fuel growth of the smart card market in the region over the forecast period.

Gemalto N.V., Giesecke Devrient GmbH, Oberthur Technologies, and Morpho S.A (Safran) are some of the leaders in the global smart card market. The global smart card market is highly fragmented, with the top three players accounting for around 59.0% revenue share in 2015. Leading companies are looking to expand their production capacity, especially in Asia Pacific, which is one of the major smart card markets. Companies are also focussing on launching new smart card products for government and transportation applications, in a bid to cater to the growing demand for smart cards in emerging economies. The escalating demand for SIMs for telecom application is anticipated to boost growth of the smart card market. Developing economies are expected to remain key target markets for smart card manufacturers in 2016 and beyond.

Long-term outlook: PMR maintains a positive long-term outlook on the global smart card market, estimating global revenues to surpass US$ 15,050.2 Mn by 2024. In terms of volume, the global smart card market is anticipated to expand at a CAGR of 9.6% over 2016 – 2024.