2015 shipments – Eurosmart Forecasts Continued Business Growth for Smart Security Industry Double-digit growth in worldwide shipments of secure elements in 2015

Brussels, 19th of May 2016 – At its annual General Assembly in Brussels, Eurosmart, the Voice of the Smart Security Industry, announced the 2015 figures for the worldwide secure elements shipments and the corresponding 2016 forecasts. Timothée Mangenot, President of Eurosmart: “2015 proved momentous for the smart security industry with an overall growth of 13% which is largely due to excellent results in payment and government markets and the sustained development of mobile applications. We expect to keep this momentum in 2016.”

Despite challenging macroeconomic conditions, the 2016 forecasts confirm the ongoing high performance of the Telecom market. Global LTE adoption proved instrumental in stimulating demand and positively influenced the product mix.

In addition, Eurosmart, as in the past years, reports outstanding growth of the financial services sector, with a 40% increase in 2015 compared to 2014. Timothée Mangenot stated: “Migration of simple magnetic strip cards to “EMV” cards, equipped with a chip, in United States and China, was a major growth factor last year. In 2016, shipments are expected to surpass the 3 billion mark due to the continuous adoption of EMV cards globally. The market for contactless payment cards, which ensure safer and speedy transactions, steadily contributed to these positive results.”

The government and healthcare markets grew by 8% in 2015 and will keep growing at an even faster pace in 2016. “The adoption of the ePassport and healthcare cards in several countries in 2016 will be the key drivers of this growth. The smart security industry is proud of the security embedded in these electronic documents and will continue to provide smart secure technologies designed to combat fraud and safely manage digital identities while protecting citizens’ right for privacy”, said Timothée Mangenot.

The smart security industry forecasts a growth for the worldwide shipments of embedded secure elements in mobile phones, tablets, navigation devices, of 63% in 2015, with an estimate of 310 million units shipped in 2015. Since mobile applications are highly adopted by businesses, consumers and citizens, the main Original Equipment Manufacturers are widely integrating embedded secure elements in mobile applications in order to ensure digital security and privacy.