Industry Characteristics

Smart Card sales increased by 12.9% from 6.3 billion in 2011 to 7.11 billion in 2012 (source: Eurosmart) and expected to reach 10 billion in 2016. The growth rate of finance card market will continue to rise as the Chinese and American markets started adopting IC Chip Card in earnest.

Korea's smart card market has also grown based on the finance sector, rapidly changing from magnetic cards to IC cards. Demand for cards keep growing as more stock cards and credit cards have been distributed, and customers have changed mobile communication USIM cards continuously. Korea's smart card market is prospective in general with the introduction of e-passport and e-resident card projects.