There is understandably much interest in the fields of printed electronics (PE) and radio frequency identification (RFID) globally. The potential for replacing some traditional electronics with low-cost, flexible systems that are printed holds great appeal to businesses, as do the estimates from consultants IDTechEx that the worldwide market for PE could reach $300 billion annually by 2026.

China National ID Card Generation II Project, which utilizes RFIDtechnology. (Photo courtesy of Hua Hong Group)

Presently, printed electronics encompasses a wide variety of fields, including RFID, solar, displays, batteries and sensors and other items such as games and novelties. IDTechEx reports that more than 3,000 companies and universities are involved in the PE field, with China and the Asia-Pacific region well represented. Indeed, some of the most intriguing groundbreaking research is coming out of Asia.

China is particularly strong in the field of RFID, and there is great interest in printing RFID using either traditional printing processes or other roll-to-roll manufacturing, due to cost efficiency and high throughput.

RFID has a major presence in China, beginning with the National ID Card. As a result, China has developed the world’s largest RFID industry.

According to IDTechEx, China became the world’s largest market for RFID by value in 2008, with $2.8 billion of $5.63 billion spent globally on RFID spent in East Asia, and $1.96 billion in China alone. Much of this growth has been driven by the one billion national ID cards. Even as the number of cards that are needed declines from the initial production, new opportunities such as smart cards, animal tagging, transportation and other fields are poised to take its place.

Chinese RFID manufacturers have developed great expertise in the market. Among the leaders is Shanghai Hua Hong NEC Electronics Company, Ltd., who is reportedly the producer of the chips for the national card. Shanghai Huahong Integrated Circuit Co., Ltd. (SHHIC), part of Shanghai Hua Hong (Group) Co., Ltd., is one of the top five semiconductor design companies in China, focusing on the technology development and production of smart card chips. SHHIC was the only ticket chips supplier of Expo 2010 Shanghai China. It is expected that about 80 million tickets should be issued. SHHIC was honored with the 2008 China Top 10 Influential Events of RFID Industry award for its 2008 Shanghai Expo Tickets of Huahong Chips.

Shanghai Shenbo Intelligent ID Technology Co., Ltd., a joint venture of Shanghai No.3 Printing Factory, Shanghai Huasheng Intelligent Card Application System Co., Ltd and Hong Kong Baoshi International Co., Ltd., adopted the first intelligent label producing line, and focuses on intelligent card, intelligent label, read and write tools to marketing them. Harbin Synjones Group is known for its Golden Dragon Card System. Guangzhou Honglimaowu Info Tech Co Ltd. is a manufacturer of contactless smart cards, HF and UHF RFID labels.

Shandong Huaguan Smart Card Co., Ltd. is a high-tech enterprise of Shandong province. The company specializes in producing contactless IC cards, dual-interface cards, contact cards and RFID. Its annual production capacity of contactless IC card is 30 million pieces and of dual-interface cards, 20 million pieces.

GuangDong JinXiang Golden Card Co., Ltd. is a key player in the design and manufacturing of smart cards as well as scratch cards, barcode cards and magnetic stripe cards, and reportedly is capable of producing 400,000 common cards and 60,000 smart cards daily.

Shenzhen Hyan Microelectronic Co., Ltd., Shenzhen, is another major RFID manufacturer, featuring patented automatic RFID production lines for its smart labels and contactless cards.

There are numerous other leading IC manufacturers in the smart card space. Shanghai Belling, a leading IC manufacturer with strong smart card capabilities, became the first publicly listed company in the micro-electronic industry in China. Shanghai Fudan Microelectronics Co., Ltd. is a leading Chinese integrated circuit design company. Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation is one of the leading semiconductor foundries in the world.

ASK, Avery Dennison, Confidex, UPF Raflatac, Savi Technology and NXP Semiconductors are among the multinational companies with a presence in China.

Confidex, the Finland-based RFID tag design and manufacturing specialist, announced in August 2006 that Guangshen Railway Company Ltd., part of the world’s largest public transport operator, Ministry of Railways of China, selected Confidex’s subsidiary, XinTag, in Guangzhou, China, as the supplier of contactless limited use tickets. Under the five-year contract, Confidex was to provide 125 million RFID tickets, with deliveries that started in October 2006.

The 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing also showcased RFID’s capabilities. ASK TongFang, the Chinese joint venture created in 2005 by Tsinghua TongFang and Paris-based ASK, manufactured the contactless inlays for the 12.2 million RFID tickets of the XXIX Olympiad.

The use of RFID for supply chain management in China is also strong. For example, Shanghai White Cat Co., the leading detergent manufacturer, uses RFID in its shipping. Animal tagging, notably for pigs, is also an area of growth for RFID, with numerous companies involved in the field. Airline baggage tracking, most notably at Hong Kong International Airport, is well underway, with Avery Dennison supplying the RFID tags.

Chinese drivers are well aware of the country’s expansion of its electronic toll collection (ETC) systems. In 2009, the Beijing Highway Electronic Toll Collection System officially entered the operational phase. China TransInfo Technology Corp., a leading provider of intelligent transportation systems for highway and urban transportation management in China, was awarded electronic toll collection beta contracts totaling RMB 4.5 million ($0.7 million) in Jiangsu Province, Shaanxi Province and Tianjin Municipality.

All indications are that China’s PE and RFID industry should continue to enjoy growth in the coming years.