Gemalto was an international digital security company providing software applications, secure personal devices such as smart cards and tokens, and managed services. It was formed in June 2006 by the merger of two companies, Axalto and Gemplus International. Gemalto N.V.'s revenue in 2018 was €2.969 billion. The company was purchased by Thales Group in April 2019 and is now operating as Thales DIS (Digital Identity and Security). Gemalto was until its acquisition the world's largest manufacturer of SIM cards. Thales DIS is headquartered in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and has subsidiaries and group companies in several countries. It has approximately 15,000 employees in 110 offices; along with 24 production sites, 47 personalization centers, and 35 R&D centers in 47 countries. History In June 2006, smart card providers Gemplus and Axalto merged to become Gemalto (a portmanteau of the original company names.) Axalto was a Schlumberger IPO spin-off in 2004. Between the merger and 2015, Gemalto completed a series of acquisitions: the Leigh Mardon's personalization center (Taiwan), Multos International, NamITech in South Africa, NXP mobile services business, the mobile software solution provider O3SIS, Trusted Logic (the secure software platform provider), Serverside (personalization of bank cards with digital images generated by end users), XIRING's banking activity, Netsize (a mobile communications service and commerce enabler), Valimo Wireless, a provider in mobile authentication, the internet banking security specialist Todos AB in Sweden, Cinterion the German specialist of machine-to-machine (M2M), SensorLogic (an M2M service delivery platform provider), Plastkart in Turkey, Ericsson’s mobile payment platform IPX, the information security company SafeNet and Buzzinbees, the automatic SIM activation expert. Axalto and Schlumberger Schlumberger began its chip card activities in February 1979 when it licensed and marketed certain chip card technologies developed and patented by Roland Moreno, who is generally credited with the invention of the chip card. Schlumberger developed the first telephone chip cards for France Telecom and the Swedish telecommunications operator Telia in the early 1980s. The company developed ties with telecommunications operators in several countries, and played a role in industry-wide efforts to develop new digital mobile communication standards, particularly the GSM transmission standard (Global System for Mobile Communication). Schlumberger designed its first SIM card in the early 1990s for the launch of GSM in Europe, and this led to the use of microprocessor card technology as an access and security solution for mobile telephony worldwide, in 3 billion handsets today. In the early 1980s, the