A smart card refers to a plastic card embedded with a microchip. Some smart cards contain an RFID chip, which allows them to identify the cardholder's related information without any physical contact with the reader. Equipped with a CPU and RAM, smart cards can process a considerable amount of data independently without interfering with the host CPU's operation. Smart cards can also filter out erroneous data, reducing the load on the host CPU and are suitable for scenarios requiring numerous ports and fast communication speeds. The integrated circuit in the card includes a central processing unit (CPU), electronically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), random access memory (RAM), and a card operating system (COS) fixed in read-only memory (ROM). The data on the card is divided into two parts: external reading and internal processing.
Currently, the market is segmented into IC cards, ID cards, and CPU cards based on card types. IC cards are the most widely used smart card type today, CPU cards represent the future trend of smart cards, while ID cards are gradually being phased out. IC cards, also known as integrated circuit cards, smart cards, intelligent cards, microcircuit cards, or microprocessor cards, embed a microelectronic chip into a card base compliant with ISO 7816 standards, forming the card. The communication between IC cards and readers can be either contact-based or contactless. Based on the communication interface, IC cards can be divided into contact IC cards, contactless IC cards, and dual-interface cards (which have both contact and contactless communication interfaces). Compared to previous identification cards, IC cards have the following features: high reliability, with capabilities such as resistance to magnetism, static electricity, mechanical damage, and chemical damage; data can be stored for more than 100 years, read/write cycles exceed 100,000 times, and the card can be used for at least 10 years. They also have good security, large storage capacity, and various types. On a global scale, the application range of IC cards has expanded beyond the early telecommunications sector to finance and accounting, social insurance, transportation and tourism, healthcare, government administration, retail, entertainment, school management, and other fields.
Due to technological limitations, magnetic stripe cards have many technical defects, such as being easily magnetized, lacking security protection, and easily readable and forgeable information. These technical defects are main factors contributing to bank card crimes, as criminals can easily steal data from the magnetic stripe using specific equipment and then replicate it onto other cards, leading to card fraud, which causes losses to banks and cardholders and may severely damage a country's reputation and image.
IC cards, which use a CPU chip with independent computing, encryption, decryption, and storage capabilities, significantly enhance security compared to magnetic stripe cards. In application, IC cards use encrypted data communication methods to exchange data with readers, featuring robust security authentication mechanisms far superior to magnetic stripe cards, thereby greatly reducing the likelihood of fake card crimes. Moreover, the shift from bank magnetic stripe cards to IC cards is an international trend. Europay (EMV, acquired by MasterCard), MasterCard, and Visa jointly established the financial IC card standard—EMV specification. The purpose of the EMV specification is to establish a unified standard for the interface between cards and terminals in the financial IC card payment system to ensure that all cards and terminals under this system can interoperate. This technology significantly improves the security of bank card payments. The promotion of international bank IC cards is being realized through the migration to the EMV specification.
In today's rapidly advancing information and technology globalization, China's smart card making machine technology is continuously being optimized and improved, breaking the previous market monopoly held by well-known foreign companies, significantly enhancing the quality of smart card manufacturing, reducing costs, and increasing production efficiency. In recent years, with electronic components becoming more precise and mature mechanical processing technology, along with the improvement of Chinese companies' independent software development capabilities and increased production capacity, has promoted the rapid development of China's smart card making machine technology. The development of card-making equipment reduces production costs, saves resources, and enhances international competitiveness for China smart card manufacturers. Additionally, more and more international smart card manufacturers are recognizing and approving Chinese-made card-making equipment. With high-quality and low smart card making machine price, foreign smart card manufacturers are increasingly opting for Chinese smart card making machine, indicating vast market potential for Chinese card-making equipment in the international market.
