| IHS Technology predicts strong growth for smart cards despite the SIM card market remaining flat |
The total market for smart cards is forecast to grow from an estimated 8.8 billion shipped in 2015 to almost 11.9 billion in 2020, despite the fact that the SIM card market is expected to remain relatively flat over the next five years.
Which vertical markets are driving growth?
The key end-user sectors leading growth over the next five years include payment and banking, e-government and healthcare and transportation. There is also a trend toward multi-application cards and mobile devices in these three sectors.
Multi-application cards on the increase
Other trends affecting market growth include the following: multi-application cards and mobile devices are projected to be drive growth in the transportation, payment and banking, e-government and healthcare sectors. There is still good growth potential in payment and banking cards and in e-government sectors, despite the trend toward multi-application credentials, which could have a detrimental impact on the demand for smart cards.
Security
Within this increasingly connected world, the demand for securing interactions is paramount, and smart card suppliers still have a key role to play in this ever-converging world. Industrial, automotive, power generation and distribution are just some of the applications that now require security. Customers in these markets need easy-to-implement security solutions that seamlessly integrate their current applications, systems and processes.
Other form factors and key challenges
Secure form factors will evolve and become more diverse, which will present challenges to companies competing and potentially entering the smart credential market. One of the key objectives for suppliers is to offer secure and ubiquitous mobility solutions to people and devices, with a focus on convenience customer experience and optimizing costs.