NXP Ships Over 1 Billion SmartMX2 as Trend Toward Tap-and-Go Accelerates

How popular is contactless payment? The numbers tell the story. The Smart Payment Association reports that it’s member shipped more than 1.5 billion chip enabled payment cards globally in 2014, with around 40 percent featuring contactless “tap and go” technology. The numbers continue to grow as countries around the world adopt chip cards with many also considering dual-interface technology to support additional applications like government identification or public transport access.

Over in Europe, there were more than 1 billion tap-and-go purchases on Visa cards in the last 12 months. And there are now 131 million Visa contactless cards in Europe, which can be used at over 2.6 million terminals, according to data from Visa. Additionally, more than 50 percent of the volumes issued in 2014 in the Government and Healthcard ID market are pure contactless or dual interface according to ABI.

Here’s another noteworthy number: NXP’s SmartMX2, the next-generation, dual-interface microcontroller from the SmartMX family used in many secure payment cards, identity documents and multi-application cards has reached over 1 billion shipments. NXP, with its SmartMX portfolio, now holds 47.4 percent of the payment card market and 49 percent in the secure identity market, according to ABI Research.

Contactless payment protocol, used in form factors such as credit cards, wristbands, key fobs and other devices, including smartphones, are based on secure radio-frequency identification (RFID) or near field communication (NFC). The advantage of contactless payment is that it requires no card swiping. Just wave your card over the terminal to make your payment and you’re done. It’s a more seamless, streamlined, user-friendly experience. Combine the SmartMX2 with a MIFARE application and users now have what we call a multi-application card – cards that provide more functionality, for example, security payment cards in combination with public transport, loyalty, electronic health, access or identity functionality.

There are several features that make SmartMX2 the go-to choice. First is its unique integral security architecture, which provides unprecedented levels of security and performance for all types of applications. The state-of-the-art security architecture protects the integrity and confidentiality of user data and applications while delivering a comprehensive response to a wide variety of modern security attacks.

Another key feature of the SmartMX2 is the high performance and advanced attack resistance for both contact and contactless applications. This is important because, while contactless payments are growing in popularity, systems that rely on some form of contact between, for example, a payment card and the processing device are still widely used.

Since its introduction a year and half ago, the SmartMX2 has proven to be a worthy successor to the original SmartMX microcontroller platform. The SmartMX family together has reached over 5 billion unit shipments in payment as well as secure ID applications. The rapid uptake of the SmartMX2 and the speed with which it has reached more than 1 billion shipments is evidence of the fact that customers are embracing the SmartMX Technology.

Adoption for contactless payment and multi-application cards are on the rise and NXP, with its SmartMX2 microcontroller, is at the forefront of this rapid trend. Contactless cards, payment wristbands and other mobile devices equipped with multiple applications are steadily gaining traction.

The popularity of contactless payment will increase quickly in the years ahead, as the next generation of digital payments extends simplicity and convenience to mobile and wearable NFC technology.