A German semiconductor manufacturer has unveiled an innovative chip that aims to make hundreds of millions of contactless payment cards less harmful to the environment.
The company, which is the world's largest producer of electronic payment card chips, expects the new technology to reduce the carbon footprint associated with card production.
According to the manufacturer, the new cards will have a slightly larger electronic unit, but their functions will remain the same. They will also not require an additional copper wire to act as an antenna, while the current cards require about 3 meters of copper per card to draw power from payment machines and the energy contained in the chip.
The design of the new chip allows for the use of a smaller antenna that is integrated directly into the electronic unit, which will not only reduce the amount of raw materials used to make the cards, but also simplify the recycling process. While a 60 gram reduction in carbon dioxide emissions per card may seem small, it could have a significant impact considering that more than 3 billion payment cards are produced worldwide each year.
Experts expect the size of the market for environmentally friendly electronic payment cards to reach 900 million cards per year within five years.
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