“Telecom, banking, and payments were the industries most invested in smart card applications, while the Asia Pacific region was the biggest 2018 smart card market geographically.”

A new report from Adroit Market Research predicts that the global smart card market will hit $32.65 billion by 2025. Contact-based cards currently represent the largest portion of that market (33 percent in 2018), but the demand for contactless cards is expected to grow at the fastest rate, with a CAGR of 18.23 percent during the forecast period.  

According to Adroit, technological innovation will drive much of that growth as manufacturers release convenient, contactless smart cards that offer greater security, faster transaction times, and better storage. The need to comply with new regulatory standards based on those technological improvements is also expected to push the market forward.

Telecom, banking, and payments were the industries most invested in smart card applications, while the Asia Pacific region was the biggest 2018 smart card market geographically. Both trends are likely to hold leading up to 2025.

Adroit went on to argue that high competition would continue to propel the market as manufacturers try to outdo one another, offering Gemalto’s biometric EMV cards as an example. The conclusion is in keeping with a similar report from ABI Research, which found that biometrics was fueling interest in EMV technology. The interest in biometric payment cards is particularly high as financial services providers search for safer payment methods.