Smartrac to ship millions more inlays
Dutch company a major player in the ePassport market; deal with Infineon follows strong financial reports; company set to build two new factories, one in the United States, to expand capacity to 4 million units per month
Careful readers will recall the name of Amsterdam, Holland-based Smartrac. The company — a supplier of chip and antenna inlays for electronic passports — went public in July, and then redeemed that decision soon afterwards when New York-based Avenue Capital Management took up up nearly 6 percent of the company. Avenue was surely as impressed with Smartrac’s financials as it was with its technology: the company reported revenue of €22.5 million in the first six months of this year, nearly double that of the same period in 2005. Earnings more than tripled to €4.7 million.
Now we hear that Smartrac has received an order for “several million” inlays for U.S. ePassports from Germany-based Infineon, a major supplier of smart card technology to the government. (An inlay, now embedded in many passports, consists of a module comprised of a smart card chip bonded to an antenna. The chips may carry digital photos and personal data.) This is at least the second such deal between the two compaines: Smartrac previously reported a deal with Infineon to deliver 1 million inlays a month.
Smartrac, as we have reported, does its manufacturing in Thailand, and recently announced plans to open a fourth Thai plant in January. Most interestingly, however, was an announcement that the company would soon open a factory in the United States, with the hope of bringing total capacity to 4 million units per month. No doubt they have lots of demand: the company says it is involved in 70 of the 95 e-passport programs worldwide.
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