Germany-based chip maker Infineon Technologies has no plans to join its rivals in producing NFC chips–instead focusing on secure elements that can store payment and other applications in NFC phones.
Infineon, which annually tops the list of the world's largest suppliers of smart card chips, based on revenue, believes most NFC phones will come embedded with secure elements starting this year. And the chip maker predicts it will be shipping “double-digit millions” of these embedded chips per quarter by the end of 2011.
Jürgen Spänkuch, director of business development for embedded security, part of Infineon’s chip card and security division, said he agrees with analysts, including UK-based IMS Research, which have projected that a large majority of NFC phones will come with embedded chips.