January 19, 2012, Seoul – Infineon Technologies (Korea Representative Director Seung-soo Lee) is a leading supplier of secure microcontrollers for Near Field Communication (NFC) applications. According to an IMS Research report published in January 2012, Infineon holds a 51.5 percent share of the NFC secure microcontroller market.

NFC contactless communication technology enables smartphones and other mobile devices to function as wallets, tickets, and keys. Infineon, a leading supplier in this market, plays a pivotal role in shaping the NFC market and offers three types of security features to enable contactless NFC applications on mobile devices: NFC secure microcontrollers for SIM cards, embedded secure elements for mobile phone electronics, and secure elements that can be implemented on microSD cards. Infineon is the only semiconductor company that offers this flexibility in implementing NFC functionality. Infineon's NFC solutions meet the most stringent specifications for secure microcontrollers, including the Common Criteria EAL 5+ “high” international standard and EMVCo (Europay International, Mastercard, Visa) certifications. Infineon's NFC solutions are suitable for use in all payment applications utilizing NFC capabilities on mobile devices.

Infineon's NFC security microcontrollers are already being used in many NFC smartphones. Infineon applies its multi-award-winning "Integrity Guard" security technology to some of its NFC security microcontrollers. This technology was developed for applications requiring a very high level of security, such as mobile payments. This security technology stores data in an encrypted format and maintains the encrypted state throughout the entire data path, including the CPU, memory, cache, and bus, even during processing.

Dr. Stefan Hofschen, President of Chip Card & Security at Infineon Technologies, stated, “We are very pleased with the customer trust in Infineon’s NFC security chip products and the fact that this has allowed Infineon to secure the number one position in the market. Infineon is the only semiconductor company in the world capable of supporting all NFC business models with a wide range of security solutions. Data security is paramount for sustained consumer trust and successful NFC business models. By utilizing Infineon’s secure microcontrollers, it will be possible to provide safe, convenient, and efficient NFC functionality on mobile phones. By supplying these solutions, Infineon is laying the technical foundation for secure mobile payments.”

According to IMS Research data, 35 million NFC mobile phones were shipped worldwide in 2011, and this figure is projected to increase to 80 million by the end of 2012. Through showcase events such as the 2012 London Summer Olympics, NFC technology can be introduced and the benefits of using it for mobile payments and access control can be promoted. By 2016, mobile payments are expected to become the most widely used NFC application.

According to IMS Research, the number of security elements shipped for NFC mobile phones in 2011 reached 45.8 million. Of these, embedded security elements accounted for the largest share at 26.6 million, while SIM cards and other solutions (such as microSD cards) accounted for 19 million and 200,000, respectively. IMS Research forecasts that the NFC security microcontroller market will show an average annual growth rate of 94 percent from 2011 to 2016. By 2016, the market share of embedded security elements, the primary security solution for NFC applications, is projected to increase to 49 percent, while SIM cards will account for 33 percent. Additionally, it is expected that 44 percent of mobile phones sold in 2016 will offer NFC functionality.