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Key people at Gemalto.
Based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Gemalto is an international digital security company that designs and manufactures secure personal devices, software applications, and managed services for the telecommunications, financial, and government sectors. Prior to its acquisition, the enterprise generated €2.969 billion in annual revenue and maintained a global workforce of approximately 15,000 employees across operations in 43 different countries. The organization established itself as the world's largest manufacturer of SIM cards and credit cards, selling more than five billion SIM units during the 2012 fiscal year alone. Under the leadership of Chief Executive Officer Philippe Vallée, the firm expanded its enterprise security capabilities by acquiring SafeNet for $890 million before ultimately being purchased by Thales Group for $5.6 billion. Gemalto was officially formed in 2006 through the corporate merger of two existing entities, Axalto and Gemplus International.
Gemalto was a leading international digital security company specializing in software applications, secure personal devices like smart cards and tokens, e-wallets, and managed services to protect data, transactions, and identities.[3][5] It served over 30,000 businesses, 3,000 financial institutions, and 2 billion people across 190+ countries, securing more than 80% of intra-bank fund transfers worldwide and providing SIM cards for over 700 million subscribers.[4][5] The company built products such as Subscriber Identity Modules (SIMs), EMV-compliant payment cards, access tokens, and encryption solutions, addressing cybersecurity challenges in mobile communications, banking, and identity management amid rising digital threats.[1][2][3]
By 2012, Gemalto reported revenues exceeding €2.25 billion with around 10,000-12,000 employees, 74 sales offices, 15 manufacturing sites, and R&D centers in 43 countries; it grew through strategic acquisitions like SafeNet in 2015 for data encryption expertise.[4][5] Ultimately, Gemalto was acquired by Thales Group, integrating into a larger €19 billion entity with 81,000 employees serving secure digital services globally.[6]
Gemalto originated from the June 2006 merger of Axalto and Gemplus International S.A., both pioneers in smart card technology, headquartered in Amsterdam, Netherlands.[1][2][3][4] Axalto stemmed from Schlumberger's chip card division, which began in 1979 licensing Roland Moreno's patented technology—the foundation of modern chip cards—and developed early telephone cards for France Telecom and Telia in the 1980s, plus the first SIM cards for GSM rollout in the 1990s.[1][2][3] Schlumberger consolidated these into Axalto in 2003, spinning it off via IPO on Euronext Paris in May 2004.[1][2][3]
Gemplus, founded in 1988 by Marc Lassus, Daniel Le Gal, Philippe Maes, Jean-Pierre Gloton, and Gilles Lisimaque, started as a prepaid phonecard supplier and built telecom ties in the 1990s, going public on Euronext Paris and NASDAQ in 2000 before reorganizing in 2004.[1][3] The 2006 merger created Gemalto, capitalizing on combined expertise in SIMs (over 5 billion sold by 2012) and EMV payment standards, marking a pivotal consolidation in digital security.[1][2][5]
Gemalto rode the explosive growth of mobile telecom and digital payments, pioneering SIM cards for GSM (ubiquitous by 2012 with billions deployed) and EMV chips (over 1 billion cards in circulation), which standardized secure mobile access and contactless banking amid rising smartphone adoption.[1][2][3] Timing aligned with 1990s-2000s telecom booms and post-2000 payment digitization, fueled by market forces like global standards bodies (GSM, EMV by Europay/MasterCard/Visa) and demand for fraud-proof identity solutions.[2][3]
It influenced the ecosystem by enabling secure scaling for telcos, banks, and governments—securing 80% of interbank transfers and pilots like mobile payments—while its Thales integration amplified impact in IoT and cloud security, bridging legacy hardware to modern digital services for billions.[4][5][6]
Gemalto's legacy as a digital security powerhouse endures through Thales, where its tech bolsters €3 billion in annual revenues from secure services for billions of users and devices.[6] Next steps likely emphasize IoT authentication, quantum-resistant encryption, and AI-driven threat detection amid escalating cyber risks and 5G/edge computing trends. As data breaches proliferate and regulations like GDPR tighten, Thales-Gemalto's scale positions it to dominate, evolving from chip cards to holistic platform security—tying back to its roots in protecting the world's first digital identities.
Key people at Gemalto.
