Munich, Germany and Beijing, China – November 17, 2015 – Enabling secured mobile payment based on NFC technology: Infineon Technologies AG announced that it supplies the embedded Secure Element (eSE) chip for the latest Lenovo smartphones. Besides the Lenovo Vibe P1 introduced at the IFA 2015, a world leading trade show for consumer electronics and home appliances, Infineon’s security controllers are also used in the Lenovo X3. These security chips offer protection of security-critical functionalities of the mobile device. This includes secured transfer of sensitive payment credentials when using the phone for contactless payment at points of sale as well as mobile ticketing in public transportation.
“We are proud that Lenovo, one of the top five smartphone makers worldwide and a particularly strong brand in China has selected Infineon,” says Dr. Stefan Hofschen, President of the Chip Card & Security Division of Infineon. “Mobile payment is on the rise for which we provide reliable security solutions. Secured storage of sensitive information such as user’s banking or biometric data creates trust in new features like fingerprint authentication and cloud services. These features increase user convenience without compromising security. At the same time, we help our customers to minimize design-in efforts and speed up time-to-market.”
The Infineon SLE 97 eSE shipped to Lenovo adheres to globally recognized security standards: it is certified according to Common Criteria EAL5+ (high) and EMVCo (Europay International, MasterCard, VISA). EMVCo specifications facilitate worldwide interoperability and acceptance of secure payment transactions. In addition, Infineon together with its partners, offer chip-based secured mobile payment solutions adapted to meet local Chinese market requirements. This will further strengthen Infineon’s leading position in the fastest growing mobile payment market in Asia Pacific. The Vibe P1 and Lenovo X3 smartphones with the eSE will be available in China.
Embedded Secure Elements are becoming a mainstream security solution for NFC (Near Field Communication) applications. According to IHS estimates (NFC report 2015), the number of smartphones with embedded NFC secure Elements is projected to increase from 420 million in 2015 to 1.6 billion in 2020. This development is mainly driven by growth in mobile payment as well as transport and ticketing applications.
