Asia Pacific continues to dominate in smart cards

Source: Transparency Market Research.

The Asia Pacific region is all set to retain its position of being a dominant contributor to the global smart cards market from 2013 to 2020, with a CAGR of 10.1% for the period for the smart card market in the region alone, and 9% globally. At this growth rate, the global smart cards market is expected to grow from a valuation of US$6.6 billion in 2013 to US$11.9 billion by 2020. 

Asia Pacific accounted for almost 50% of the total revenue in the global smart cards market in 2013, according to Smart Cards Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2014 - 2020 from Transparency Market Research, with adoption fuelled by applications such as toll collection, telecommunication, driver’s license, ticketing, cross-border identification, and national identification. Towards 2020, Asia Pacific countries such as India, China, Japan, and South Korea will account for demand in the region, the consultancy said. 

The global smart cards market is studied on the basis of Porter’s Five Forces Analysis by considering factors such as suppliers’ bargaining power, buyers’ bargaining power, threat from new entrants, threat from substitutes, and competition. The report states that the demand for reliable and secure payment transactions for finance and retail applications has resulted in the growth of the market. Innovations in smart card technology are driven by cost-saving schemes from brands such as MasterCard, Europay, and Visa. 

The report covers contactless, hybrid and dual-interface smart cards, as well as smart card components such as memory cards and microcontroller cards. Applications that are discussed include those for government, healthcare, transportation, telecommunications, pay TV, financial, retail and customer loyalty.