Daphne Leprince-Ringuet
| June 24, 2021 — 09:37 GMT (10:37 BST)
| Topic: Tech Industry
The global shortage of chips is now threatening to imperil the supply of smart payment cards.
Image: shapecharge / Getty Images
After causing long waiting lists for smartphones, PCs and gaming consoles, the global shortage of chips is now threatening to imperil the supply of another pretty indispensable item: the card that you use every day to make payments.
The Smart Payment Association (SPA), the trade body for the cards and mobile payments industry, has warned that the bottlenecks that are currently hitting the production of semiconductors is trickling down to some payment card manufacturers, who are facing difficulties securing the components they need to produce the items.
It will be up to producers in the semiconductor industry to change their priorities to make sure that smart payment card manufacturers are provided with sufficient supply instead, he continued.
In other words, instead of allocating resources to equipment manufacturers, for example in the smartphone sector, the industry should give priority to payment cards, which are more critical to the economy.
“The disruption in card issuance would have an immediate negative impact on consumers, merchants and banks. In a situation of allocation of the wafer foundries capacities, the bankcard allocation must have priority,” said Doucerain. “SPA is communicating now because there is still time to improve the situation, provided the semiconductor industry modifies its priorities.”
To obtain higher priority on the production of chips, the SPA has taken action with central banks and government bodies, urging for a fairer allocation of semiconductors between industries.
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Daphne Leprince-Ringuet
| June 24, 2021 — 09:37 GMT (10:37 BST)
| Topic: Tech Industry