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• Comment: See Help:Referencing for beginners. 🏳️‍🌈JohnLaurens333 (They/them • Ping me!) 20:02, 1 June 2026 (UTC)

Linxens is a French company headquartered in Mantes-la-Jolie, France, that designs and manufactures electronic components for smart cards, including microconnectors, RFID antennas, inlays, and module packaging. The company supplies components used in electronic passports, national identity cards, payment cards, SIM cards, and access control systems. It operates production facilities and research and development centres across Europe, Asia, and the Americas.

Linxens was founded in the 1980s by three engineers who developed the flexible etched circuit for the first commercial smart card, drawing on technology derived from cinema projection.^[1] The company established itself as a leading manufacturer of microconnectors for the smart card industry and played a role in the development of the first phonecard in 1983, as well as subsequent innovations including dual-interface cards, GSM cards, and near-field communication (NFC) technology.

Under the ownership of private equity firm Astorg Partners, Linxens pursued a strategy of geographic and product expansion. In May 2015, the company acquired KnL Group, a Thailand-based manufacturer of RFID inlays and antennas founded in 2010 and headquartered in Bangkok.^[2] KnL's components were used in transit and banking cards, national identity documents, and passports across Asia. The acquisition gave Linxens a manufacturing presence in Thailand.

In November 2016, Linxens acquired the Secure ID and Transaction (SIT) division of Smartrac, a Dutch company and global leader in RFID products.^[3] The combined group was projected to generate revenues of more than 500 million euros and employ approximately 3,500 people worldwide, with operations in China, France, Germany, Singapore, Thailand, and the United States.

In 2018, Chinese state-linked technology conglomerate Tsinghua Unigroup announced the acquisition of Linxens for approximately 2 billion euros.^[4] Tsinghua Unigroup, affiliated with Tsinghua University in Beijing, was one of China's largest semiconductor and technology groups. The transaction represented one of the most significant Chinese acquisitions of a European smart card and identity technology company. Following the acquisition, Linxens continued to operate as a standalone entity under Tsinghua Unigroup's ownership structure, with the holding company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands as Tsinghua Unigroup International Co., Ltd.

Tsinghua Unigroup encountered severe financial difficulties beginning in 2020. In November 2020, Reuters reported that the group defaulted on a US$198 million domestic bond.^[5] Shortly thereafter, concerns mounted over the group's ability to service a US$450 million international bond issued through its subsidiary Unigroup International Holdings Ltd, due to mature on 10 December 2020.^[6]

On 7 December 2020, three days before the bond maturity date, Tsinghua Unigroup International Co., Ltd made a partial loan repayment of US$125.9 million to Linxens Holding SAS, a connected group company. On 9 December 2020, it was publicly announced that neither UIH nor TUI would be able to meet the bond repayment obligations due the following day. Joint liquidators from Ernst and Young were subsequently appointed over TUI and UIH in November 2022, following the appointment of provisional liquidators in April 2022.

In proceedings before the Commercial Division of the High Court of Justice of the Virgin Islands, the joint liquidators challenged the US$125.9 million repayment to Linxens Holding SAS as an unfair preference under sections 245 and 249 of the BVI Insolvency Act 2003. The liquidators were represented by Ogier.^[7] Following a three-day trial that concluded in October 2025, Justice Gerhard Wallbank KC handed down judgment in May 2026, granting the application to set aside the payment. The judgment found that TUI was "plainly hopelessly cash-flow insolvent" as at 7 December 2020, and that the repayment "was positively intended to frustrate other, external, creditors' rights in the likely imminent event of TUI's insolvency." The ruling was the first written judgment in the BVI to consider the law on unfair preference claims in detail.

Following Tsinghua Unigroup's insolvency proceedings, the group underwent restructuring. In December 2021, a consortium of state-backed investors was brought in, with Alibaba Group exiting the deal.^[8] In July 2022, a new chairman was appointed for Tsinghua Unigroup, signalling a state-backed fresh start for the conglomerate.^[9] The restructured ownership resulted in Linxens' holding company being controlled by a group led by Wise Road Capital and JAC Capital, two Beijing-based private equity firms. Both firms have been placed on the United States Department of Commerce Entity List, which restricts exports of certain technology to listed companies.^[10]

In May 2026, the Financial Times reported that Linxens, which supplies blank inlays to Thales, the defence company contracted by the UK Home Office to provide British passports, is owned by an investor group led by two Chinese companies on a US restricted entities list.^[11] The article raised concerns around critical national infrastructure and the potential for counterfeiting.

Linxens' core products include microconnectors for smart card chip modules, RFID antennas and inlays for contactless applications, pre-laminated inlays for electronic passports and identity documents, electronic covers for biometric passports, module packaging for chip integration, and biosensor patches for healthcare wearables through its Linxens Healthcare division. The company serves customers in the government identity, payment, telecommunications, healthcare, transportation, and access control sectors. Linxens operates production sites and research and development centres in France, Germany, China, Singapore, Thailand, and the United States, and employs approximately 3,000 people across multiple countries.

Linxens SAS is incorporated under French law and headquartered at 37 Rue des Closeaux, Mantes-la-Jolie, 78200, France. Following the insolvency of Tsinghua Unigroup International Co., Ltd and the associated restructuring, the company's ownership passed to entities linked to Wise Road Capital and JAC Capital, both Beijing-based private equity investors with significant semiconductor and technology portfolios.

The acquisition of KnL Group in Thailand gave rise to legal disputes, which were addressed in proceedings before the French Court of Cassation.^[12]

Linxens was involved in patent litigation in France against Thales, including proceedings before the French patent office and on appeal, concerning opposition decisions and the admissibility of new claims.^[13]

In 2023, a week-long strike took place at the Linxens factory in Buchelay, France. The action followed an incident in which an employee attempted suicide in the factory locker room. Workers cited concerns about managerial violence as the basis for the industrial action.^[14]

Category:Electronics companies of France