Milpitas, Calif., September 29, 2014–Infineon Technologies North America today announced that its “iKaffee” dual-interface EMV payment solution received security and functional approval from Visa Inc. for use in smart payment cards in Latin America. The approval verifies compliance with all Visa specifications and requirements for smart payment cards and that cards based on the solution can carry the Visa brand.

Infineon also announced that iKaffee-based cards are now available from IntelCav, one of the world’s largest smart card manufacturers and a leading supplier of payment cards in Brazil and Latin America.

Based on the market-leading Infineon SLE 77 SOLID FLASH™ security controller, iKaffee includes a pre-integrated Java Card Operating System and a VSDC (Visa Smart Debit Credit) applet. To support wireless connectivity, Infineon’s award-winning inductive coupling technology, Coil on Module (CoM), is used in combination with a wired inlay.

Financial institutions that wish to issue Visa-branded payment cards must use chip-card products for the payment card that have received a letter of approval from Visa. This approval is issued after completion of tests of a card’s operating characteristics, the Visa applications running on the card, and the card’s security level.

Faster time-to-market as the result of simplified manufacturing and streamlined approval process

IntelCav is the first card manufacturer in South America offering Visa certified products based on the Infineon iKaffee solution.

According to IntelCav, the dual-interface card manufacturing process is greatly simplified when using the innovative and proven CoM technology. Importantly, the dual-interface cards can be manufactured on the same equipment as contact-based cards, requiring no major equipment investment.

Alvaro de Oliveira, CEO of IntelCav, said that the contactless card offers convenience and comfort, and improves the user experience compared to other payment methods. “With the combination of Visa certification and the CoM technology supporting the dual interface, we are able to speed time-to-market and offer new cards with great potential for applications.”

In addition to virtually no new equipment investment, CoM simplifies the card design process and enables card manufacturing rates up to five times faster than other technologies used for dual-interface cards. Card manufacturers also have the greater flexibility to run standard contact-based and dual-interface cards on one production line.

In April 2013, Infineon was selected by Visa as a preferred supplier of security controllers for new Global Platform compliant payment cards issued in the Latin America and Caribbean region (LAC)

“We are confident that Infineon’s ‘Coil on Module’ technology will help card manufacturers to quickly deliver dual interface payment cards to the global market,” said Joerg Borchert, vice president, chip card & security at Infineon Technologies North America. “The added acceleration in time-to-market offered by iKaffee underlines Infineon’s leadership in semiconductor technology, package expertise, and profound understanding of card manufacturers’ system requirements.”

IHS estimates the shipments of dual-interface payment cards in Latin America will rise from 61.2 million units in 2014 to 251.5 million in 2019. This means the share of dual-interface payment card shipments will rise from 22 percent in 2014 to 67 percent in 2019.

Information about the Infineon EMV payment solution is available at www.infineon.com/payment.

About Infineon

Infineon Technologies AG, Neubiberg, Germany, offers semiconductor and system solutions addressing three central challenges to modern society: energy efficiency, mobility, and security. In the 2013 fiscal year (ending September 30), the company reported sales of Euro 3.84 billion with close to 26,700 employees worldwide. Infineon is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (ticker symbol: IFX) and in the USA on the over-the-counter market OTCQX International Premier (ticker symbol: IFNNY). Further information is available at www.infineon.com.