IDEX Aims for Gross Margin of 40-45 Percent from Biometric Smart Cards

“IDEX estimates the annual shipments of biometric cards will jump from 55 million units this year to 340 million units in 2020. “

IDEX‘s executive leadership took the opportunity of this week’s Consumer Electronics Show to make their pitch to investors at a special presentation yesterday.

Conducted at The Venetian hotel’s Sands Expo meeting hall, the presentation was led by IDEX CEO Hemant Mardia, CFO Henrik Knudtzon, CTO Fred Benkley, and CPO Stan Swearingen. The company’s leadership team outlined their great expectations for the emerging biometric payment cards market, asserting that it represents a ‘Second Wave’ of biometric adoption following the boom in the mobile sector catalyzed by Apple’s Touch ID system for its iPhone.

IDEX estimates the annual shipments of biometric cards will jump from 55 million units this year to 340 million units in 2020. While some of these biometric smart cards will be for access control applications, and a larger proportion will be for government ID applications, biometric payment cards will take the lion’s share. IDEX anticipates that 30 million units will be shipped this year, that 140 million will ship in 2019, and that in 2020 these biometric payment cards will comprise 230 million of the 340 million biometric card shipments.

Of course, IDEX isn’t the only player in this emerging field, and so the company’s executive team was also keen to highlight their firm’s unique advantages to investors. They emphasized the cost advantages and adaptability of their off-chip sensor technology, and also put a spotlight on their partnership with Mastercard, which is expected to proceed with a large-scale commercial launch this year. As IDEX has previously indicated, it’s aiming for a 30 percent marketshare in 2020, and gross margins between 40 and 45 percent.

To early to say how investors responded to IDEX’s pitch at CES, but given the growing excitement around biometric payment cards, it’s a fair bet that the overall response was a positive one.

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January 11, 2018 – by Alex Perala