Touch controller integrated circuit (IC) makers are aggressively exploring fingerprint sensor technologies as the latter become more prominent in China-made mobile devices, according to a Digitimes Research report by Jason Yang.
One example is Goodix, a company based in southern China that is poised to supply fingerprint-enabled touch solutions to mid-range vendors in the latter half of this year; the Digitimes report predicts that the company is going to “become the largest fingerprint sensor solution provider in China.” Part of the reason, Yang says, comes down to the contact surface material used by Goodix. Unlike Holitech Technology and Silead, which rely on film-coating and ceramic solutions respectively, Goodix uses glass-based materials, which are durable and relatively inexpensive for the quality of their optical behavior. Moreover, “Goodix is currently the only player worldwide with the ability to mass produce glass-based fingerprint sensor solutions.”
Meanwhile Yang reports that China UnionPay and Alipay are “coming close to finalizing fingerprint-certified payment standards.” That’s a remarkable development in Alipay’s case, given that the company had initially suggested it would rely primarily on facial recognition for user authentication on its mPayment platform. It’s likely to be a huge player in the region’s mPayment space going forward, and so it’s integration of fingerprint recognition could prove a major boon to the fingerprint biometrics industry.
That, in turn, could be good news for Goodix, though other players – like Sweden-based FPC, which the report cites as the current largest fingerprint solution provider in China – are certainly going to compete for that business too.
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July 17, 2015 – by Alex Perala
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