Showing a huge increase of 104% from first quarter 2005 to first quarter 2006, 575 million high high-frequency RFID tag ICs were shipped in 2005, according to the latest findings of ABI Research's RFID Tag IC Market Sizing Database.
"This growth can be attributed to an increase in contactless payment cards and personal identification documents, such as e-passports. Both are high volume, high growth applications," said RFID industry analyst Sara Shah.
Just this month the U.S. joined 27 other nations in the Visa Waiver Program which issues e-passports to its citizens. Many countries have plans in the works for other forms of personal identification documents such as government ID cards and national IDs. These documents will fuel long-term growth in addition to e-passport replacement and re-issuance cycles says ABI Research.
Another RFID application in the U.S. is contactless payment and transit ticketing. New York City has been testing this system. Europe and Asia have already embraced contactless technology and are now implementing the technology at higher rates with fuller, wider deployments says ABI Research.
"North American credit card companies are becoming more bullish about contactless payment and are taking steps to introduce the technology to their customers through media campaigns, trials and new contactless card distribution. This should continue to drive HF ISO14443 tag IC markets," notes Shah.
To get a copy of the report, " RFID Reader Market Sizing Database" visit (http://www.abiresearch.com/products/forecast/RRMSC).
Interested in information related to this topic? Subscribe to our weekly RFID eNewsletter.
