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France-based NFC chip supplier Inside Secure said it would cut up to 20% of its global workforce following the loss of more than $30 million in 2012.

France-based chip supplier Inside Secure announced today it has completed its acquisition of the AuthenTec Embedded Security Solutions unit for $41.6 million in cash.

France-based chip supplier Inside Secure has agreed to acquire the Embedded Security Solutions unit of U.S.-based AuthenTec, which designs software and hardware products used for digital rights management, virtual private networks and other network security.

Inside Secure is confident it will be able to announce a design win for an Android NFC phone before the end of the year, according to Rémy de Tonnac, CEO of the struggling No. 2 NFC chip maker.

The top NFC executive at struggling chip maker Inside Secure, Charlie Walton, has left the company after seven years to become CEO of Canada-based SecureKey Technologies.

A joint NFC patent licensing program set up more than five years ago to make key NFC technology available to device makers has been discontinued.

Despite efforts to diversify its customer base for its NFC chips, France-based Inside Secure will rely on sales to BlackBerry maker Research In Motion for the bulk of its revenue in 2012 and for its goal to become profitable by the end of the year.

Inside Secure today announced it has raised €69 million (US$90 million) in its initial public offering, pricing its shares at €8.30 ($10.82) apiece.

France-based NFC chip supplier Inside Secure has relaunched its initial public offering, planning to raise up the €79 million (US$103.4 million), as it seeks to stay competitive in an increasingly crowded NFC market.

Infineon Technologies said it shipped at least 10 million embedded secure chips during both the third and fourth quarters of 2011 and predicts it will continue to sell “double-digit millions” of embedded chips each quarter after that.