subject: Aarkstore Enterprise--- 2008 Report On China's Rfid Industry [print this page] With the extensive application of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology, especially the popularization of both non-contact IC cards in public transportation and campus IC cards, there have already been some homegrown manufacturers, of RFID chips, encapsulation, read/write terminals, and system integration, which have grasped relatively mature technologies and formed a primary RFID industrial chain in China.
Figure: Size of RFID Market in China 2004-2009
1. Standards
Since 13.56MHz RFID technology has developed for a rather long time, the related standards are more mature. At present there are mainly two 13.56MHz international standards: ISO/IEC14443 and ISO/IEC 15693. The 13.56MHz RFID standard of China its own originated mainly from the two international standards. For example, the second-generation identity cards in China is based on ISO/IEC 14443-B, while IC cards in public transportation and campus cards on ISO/IEC14443-A. By contrast, ISO/IEC 15693 is rarely applied in China and the typical application is student preferential cards.
2. Chip Design
Although China's homegrown enterprises had a late start in RFID chip designing, they have been catching up with the advanced international designers in the past decade. At present China's major RFID chip producers are located in Beijing and Shanghai. Here are some leading market players:
Beijing: CEC Huada Electronic Design Co., Ltd., Datang Microelectronics Technology Co., Ltd, and Beijing Tsinghua Tongfang Micro-Electronic Co. Ltd.
So far China's chip producers have completely mastered the design technology of 13.56MHz RFID and are able to deal with chips for corresponding reader/writers. In the 13.56MHz RFID market of traffic IC cards and campus cards, Shanghai Fudan Microelectronics Co. Ltd. and Shanghai Huahong Integrated Circuit Co., Ltd released a series of RFID products and have won more market shares in competition with foreign large-sized enterprises.
Most China's chip manufacturers also attach much importance to the design of UHF and higher frequency RFID chips, but only adopt different strategies. Some are still waiting while some have initiated development.
3. Encapsulation (included the design of antenna)
In China, since the application of RFID mainly takes the form of cards, after a couple of years' development, encapsulation techniques in the form of RFID card is rather mature. As is well known, the encapsulation of RFID in the form of cards includes three steps: module encapsulation (chip assembly), card production (antenna manufacturing), and printing. Currently in each step China has many manufacturers. Some representatives are:
Module encapsulation: Shanghai Changfeng Smart Card Co., Ltd, Shanghai Eternal Information Technology Co., Ltd. China Electronics Smart Card Co., Ltd., and Shangdong Shanlv Electronic Co, Ltd
