ASK enters Chinese RFID market with partner Tsinghua Tongfang

The creation of ASK TongFang marks ASK’s entry into the Chinese RFID market with partner Tsinghua Tongfang (THTF), China’s third largest computer manufacturer. Headquartered in Beijing, THTF is owned by Beijing Tsinghua University, one of the most prominent universities in China. The company’s key activities include a contact smart card business unit incorporating systems integration.

ASK and THTF created a joint venture on 11 October 2005, inaugurating a partnership that unites two powerful market leaders. ‘ASK is an innovator with global influence, and China is a key market for contactless technology. We make it a priority to adapt our global solutions to suit regional markets and business environments, and we are very pleased to be working with Tsinghua Tongfang. The strength of this partnership lies in the combination of ASK’s exclusive technology and expertise in mass transit and other RFID markets and with THTF’s client database and domestic market knowledge,’ said Bruno Moreau, deputy general manager, ASK.

ASK TongFang will initially deliver pre-laminated contactless products and contactless paper tickets to China. ‘We are already working on a significant number of orders. One million cards based on ASK technology are already used in China for mass transit and store value applications,’ confirmed Jean-Franois Delepau, ASK’s international development director.

Founded in 1997, ASK supplies a comprehensive range of contactless cards, tickets, RFID tags and readers, and addresses the mass transit, access control, e-government ID, supply chain and logistics markets. With 50 million contactless cards, tickets and RFID labels are already in use worldwide, ASK’s manufacturing plant is located at its Sophia-Antipolis headquarters in France, with regional offices in Paris, Singapore and Westport, USA.