French NFC chipset vendor Inside Secure has seen shipment numbers pick up dramatically in the last quarter. The company has shipped 20 million of its Microread and Securead NFC solutions over the last year with half that figure coming just in the last three months. Although not a bellwether for the NFC handset market to the same extent as rival NXP, the performance of Inside Secure does give an indication of demand for the wireless technology.  The company has also launched an IPO which is designed to pay for R&D, support its balance sheet and finance “potential targeted acquisitions of technologies and/or businesses”.

As well as announcing its shipment numbers, the vendor said it is supplying its NFC chipsets to a “leading mobile phone manufacturer”. The company's chipset will appear in a smartphone with a launch scheduled for mid-2012. The company did not reveal the name of the manufacturer although it does say the smartphone will run on one of the most widely used mobile operating systems under licence.  Inside Secure currently supplies chipsets to a number of vendors including ZTE and RIM. The company’s general manager and EVP Charles Walton (pictured) said the current contract proves that it had “earned the confidence of major OEMs and operators in this industry”. He also commented that the selection showed the company’s solution was building momentum as the NFC markets “moves into the mainstream”. Further insight about the state of the NFC market will come this week with the quarterly results announcement from NXP.

Separately, Inside Secure has launched an initial public offering on NYSE Euronext Paris. The offer is intended to raise up to EUR 79.3 million. The offer opened on February 7 and will close on February 17. Shares are expected to begin trading on February 20. The French vendor will price its offering at between EUR 7 and EUR 8.54 per share. The company originally planned a listing for last summer but dropped it due to wider turmoil in the financial markets.