IFSS Opens Petaling Jaya Card Plant for Up to 80 Million Bank and SIM Cards a Year
A new card factory in Petaling Jaya wants to turn Malaysia into a regional hub for the plastic and metal in people’s wallets. IF Security Solution Sdn Bhd (IFSS Malaysia) has opened a smart card production and personalisation centre that can make tens of millions of bank cards and SIM cards a year, and it expects the plant to bring in about RM104.5 million in annual revenue.
Key facts
- IFSS Malaysia’s new Regional Personalisation Services Centre is in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, and was developed with Singapore-based IF Security Solution Pte Ltd.
- The centre has 10 production lines and can produce about 40 million cards a year on one shift, or about 80 million on two shifts.
- It makes credit, debit, prepaid and government cards (magnetic stripe, contact chip and contactless), plus physical SIMs and eSIMs for 4G and 5G.
- The company targets about RM104.5 million (around US$25.6 million) a year in revenue, assuming 80% use of a single shift.
- Target customers are banks, fintechs, government agencies and telcos in Malaysia, Europe, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East.
What the plant actually does
Making a payment card is more than printing a logo on plastic. Each card needs a secure chip, and that chip must then be personalised: loaded with the cardholder’s name, card number and the encryption keys that let it work at a shop terminal or a tap-to-pay reader. This step is tightly controlled, because a leak at this stage could let criminals clone cards. The finished card is then packed into a mailer and sent to the customer, a step known as fulfilment.
IFSS says its PJ centre handles all three stages under one roof. Personalisation lines can process up to 1,600 bank cards an hour each, while SIM lines can handle 5,000 SIMs an hour. The fulfilment area can prepare 1,500 to 2,000 card mailers an hour. Besides standard plastic cards, the plant offers premium metal, ceramic and gold-finish cards, cards with LED lights, and greener options made from recycled PVC, PLA and PET-G materials.
General manager Melvin Lee said Malaysia gives the company a cost-competitive manufacturing base, backed by the country’s electronics industry, logistics network and long experience in producing secure documents. According to the New Straits Times, the company estimates Malaysia has more than 58 million active cards in circulation.
What it means for Malaysians
For most cardholders, little will change overnight: your bank decides who makes its cards, and a new supplier does not change how you pay. But more local capacity can matter in a few concrete ways:
- Banks and fintechs: A personalisation centre close to home can shorten the time it takes to issue new or replacement debit and credit cards, and gives smaller issuers, such as digital banks and prepaid card fintechs, another local option beyond the established players.
- Consumers: Faster card production helps when banks run large card swaps, for example when moving customers to new contactless or chip standards, or when cards must be reissued after a fraud scare.
- The economy: Most of the plant’s planned output is aimed at export markets, so it adds to Malaysia’s role as a base for secure electronics and payment hardware, not just as a market for it.
The project also comes as cards keep their place alongside QR codes and e-wallets. Even as DuitNow QR and wallets grow, debit and credit cards remain central to online shopping, travel and contactless tap-to-pay at retail counters and on public transport.
What to watch
- Which Malaysian banks, digital banks or e-wallet operators sign up to have their cards made or personalised at the PJ centre.
- Whether IFSS reaches its 80% single-shift utilisation target, and when it moves to a second shift.
- Demand for eSIMs, which could shift the plant’s mix away from physical SIM cards over time.
Related on FinDeskAsia: How Malaysia’s payment system works · DuitNow explained
Sources: New Straits Times (October 2026), The Sun via Newswav (October 2026), KLSE Screener (October 2026)
