Gemplus names new President for Asia

Martin McCourt appointed President of Asia to drive forward the opportunities for smart cards in this region

Luxembourg and Singapore, 7 April 2005, Gemplus International S.A. (Euronext: LU0121706294 - GEM and NASDAQ: GEMP), the world's leading provider of smart card based solutions, today announces the appointment of Dr Martin McCourt as President of Gemplus Asia, reporting to Alex Mandl, President and Chief Executive Officer. Dr McCourt joins the Gemplus General Management committee and will be responsible for the whole of Asia, including Asia Pacific, Greater China, Japan and Korea.

Dr McCourt, 42, has 20 years experience in the Telecom sector, including several years focused on Asian markets. As Vice President for Corning Cable System's Project Services business, and over his career, Dr McCourt has held leadership roles in R&D, Sales and Marketing, Operations, Strategy and M&A. Dr McCourt will be based in Singapore, where he is re-locating with his wife and two boys. "It is great to be joining Gemplus. I have learned from experience that proximity to customers is key, especially in Asia. Having lived previously in Shanghai, I am looking forward to moving back to the region. With Asia already consuming half the worldwide volume of smart cards, this is a strategic region for Gemplus," said Dr McCourt. "With income levels increasing across the region, there remains huge untapped potential. I am looking forward to developing the business in markets such as India, where interest is high but deployment is still relatively low."

Gemplus has maintained a strong presence in the Asian market for 15 years, which it plans to reinforce with its new regional President, Dr McCourt, providing secure smart card solutions for the telecommunication, identification and financial service industries across the diverse regions.

Alex Mandl, President and CEO, Gemplus, said "Asia is a fascinating market place for us because of the sheer diversity of regions and projects. The offices in Singapore were the first that we opened outside of France, over 15 years ago, and this foresight has borne fruit. However, the vast differences that we see throughout the region need a strong and steady hand at the helm. I welcome Dr McCourt to this challenge."

Dr McCourt has an MBA from INSEAD, a Ph.D in Integrated Optics from the Institut National Polytechnique in Grenoble and a Bachelor of Electronic Engineering from University College Dublin.

About Gemplus

Gemplus International S.A. (Euronext: LU0121706294 - GEM and NASDAQ: GEMP) is the world's leading player in the smart card industry in both revenue and total shipments (source: Gartner-Dataquest (2004), Frost & Sullivan, Datamonitor). It has sold over 5 billion smart cards.
With security at its core, and 2400 patents and patent applications produced by its innovative R&D team, Gemplus delivers a wide range of portable, personalized solutions in areas including Identity, Mobile Telecommunications, Public Telephony, Banking, Retail, Transport, Healthcare, WLAN, Pay-TV, e-government, and access control.
Gemplus' revenue in 2004 was 865 million Euros.

www.gemplus.com

For more information

Janet Loh
Corporate PR Manager
Tel: +65 6317 3746
e-mail:janet.loh@gemplus.com

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