Contactless Ticketing Smart Card Shipments Saw a Post-COVID Recovery of 6% in 2021

After a significant decrease in 2020, the worldwide shipments of contactless ticketing smart cards recovered 6% to reach 302 million in 2021, according to ABI Research.

While many countries are still in various states of reduced transit services, the chipset shortage will make its presence known in 2022, causing a shortfall in supply for lower ASP end markets and resulting in a drop in 2022 shipments to just under 290 million.  

2021 resulted in low growth for the overall contactless ticketing market on a global scale. Overall, 2021 saw a total of 302 million micro and memory shipments, with continued migration from memory to microcontroller, but lower growth because of the continuing pandemic and many countries maintaining distancing measures. With most global transport networks running limited services, ridership was much lower than pre-pandemic levels.

It is unlikely that the global market for ticketing smart card shipments will recover in several years. This is not only due to the ongoing pandemic concerns in most countries, but also the chipset shortage, which is currently in its most critical year. The short supply of chips to cards will be felt more harshly in developing and emerging economies, as transit authorities struggle to stump up the higher ASP the contactless ticketing smart cards will now command. North America and Europe will experience lessened effects.