26 février 2026
2H47
Zaps
Gemplus : quand les USA s'emparèrent de la technologie française de la carte à puce
Ce qui s'est joué autour de cette entreprise, née d'une innovation issue de Thomson et devenue leader mondial de la carte électronique, dépasse largement le destin d'un groupe industriel. Gemplus est le symbole d'un échec stratégique, d'un aveuglement politique et d'une incapacité collective à comprendre que dans l'économie mondialisée, la...
Gemplus : when the USA seized French smart card technology
What happened around this company, born out of an innovation from Thomson and which became the world leader in electronic cards, goes far beyond the fate of an industrial group. Gemplus is symbolic of strategic failure, political blindness, and a collective inability to understand that in a globalized economy, technology is never just a product: it is a tool of power, a lever of influence, and a permanent target for those who know how to wage economic war.
At the heart of this defeat lies a double failure: that of industrial strategy and that of the cognitive battle. The former because France failed to protect a technology that was central to its future; the latter because it failed to build the narrative, mobilize support, and generate the public pressure that could have stopped American predation. Gemplus was not only conquered on financial grounds: it was abandoned on ideological grounds. And this is precisely where this case becomes exemplary in light of the lessons developed by French thinking on economic warfare.
At the heart of this defeat lies a double failure: that of industrial strategy and that of the cognitive battle. The former because France failed to protect a technology that was central to its future; the latter because it failed to build the narrative, mobilize support, and generate the public pressure that could have stopped American predation. Gemplus was not only conquered on financial grounds: it was abandoned on ideological grounds. And this is precisely where this case becomes exemplary in light of the lessons developed by French thinking on economic warfare.
Le crowdfunding pour financer la production de Zaps en 2026 vient de démarrer –>
A crowdfunding to keep the iZap4u project alive has just started –>