Infineon’s SECORA Connect Can Make Anything a Wallet

Making payments at the beach or while playing sports will become increasingly convenient in the future, as more and more everyday objects such as watches, rings, key fobs and even items of clothing gain the ability to conduct payment transactions.

As a market leader for security semiconductors, Infineon Technologies AG is now driving this development forward with its SECORA Connect portfolio. New, robust chips whose smallest versions are less than half the size of ladybugs open up unprecedented possibilities for manufacturers to turn even small everyday objects into contactless means of pay-ment.

At Mobile World Congress 2023, Infineon is presenting an innovative payment solution from Pagopace. The Cologne-based startup is showcasing a collection of rings that can serve as contactless means of payment – entirely without a battery supply. The rings are made of wood and ceramic, among other materials, and are virtually indistinguishable from common jewelry.

Infineon’s SECORA Connect S solution will make these rings even more user-friendly in the future, for example in terms of contactless payment performance as well as compati-bility with enablement services from several tokenization providers.

In addition, Infineon is presenting SECORA Connect X, a solution that will enable particu-larly space-saving future designs for battery-powered devices. The SECORA Connect X devices are connected to a single tiny antenna that has a small footprint, increasing design flexibility while reducing the size of the device. Infineon is supporting several smart ring manufacturers with this special design to integrate payment and wireless charging func-tions into ultra-small devices.

“More and more everyday objects are becoming means of payment. Our solutions lay the foundation for this. We make digital payment easier, more convenient and more secured,” said Thomas Rosteck, division president Connected Secure Systems at Infineon. “Infineon’s SECORA Connect product line is expanding the possibilities for integrating pay-ment solutions into everyday objects of almost any size. There are virtually no limits to the imagination when it comes to where and in what materials our payment chips can be used.”

SECORA Connect X can also be used for security solutions such as two-factor authentication via FIDO. SECORA Connect S miniaturizes the payment and security function to just 2 millimeters by 2 millimeters, and 0.6 millimeters thick based on field-powered NFC ena-bling payments without need for battery in the device.

SECORA Connect not only supports NFC payments, such as Pagopace’s rings, in the future it will also facilitate digital commerce in numerous other connected devices, making it sig-nificantly more secured. For example, connected cars with secured and biometrically sup-ported payment methods will be among the key applications of the future. In the future for example it will be possible to pay charging and refueling fees, tolls and car washes – all directly using the vehicle.

At the same time, new developments in contactless payment with chip cards are emerging: New chip solutions allow cards to be made from metal, recycled plastic, wood and even biodegradable products. Customers are also increasingly being given the option of using their fingerprint to identify themselves on the card.