2024-09-01 Update
The shortage is over, Suica and PASMO cards are back on sale at local station kiosks
The first indication that something was up the FeliCa chip supply chain came on May 31 as an small announcement from Iwatekenkotsu Co., Ltd that the scheduled last leg of their Suica 2 in 1 Iwate Green Pass bus support rollout would be delayed due to new IC reader device procurement delays.
This was quickly followed by a large joint press release from JR East and PASMO on June 2 announcing that unregistered Suica and PASMO cards, the plastic ones that people can buy in Tokyo area station kiosks, would not be available starting June 8, ‘until further notice’.
On July 31 JR East • PASMO announced that registered Suica and PASMO plastic cards would not be available from August 2, expanding upon the June 8 sales suspension of unregistered Suica and PASMO plastic cards. The announcement turned media heads but was not a surprise to industry analysts and insiders.
The official reason for the Suica plastic card sales suspension is ‘the global chip shortage,’ but that doesn’t sound quite right when there are chip gluts out there. These things can be complex so I asked an old colleague who specializes in chip production analysis about the situation. He had this to say:
Domestic manufacturers of non-volitive memory of the type used in FeliCa chips, reduced manufacturing capacity as the NAND market segment is currently in a recession due to overproduction and excess inventory. This reduction came when there was an increase of inbound visitors to Japan buying Suica and PASMO cards. There was also increased demand for new Suica purchases due to the expansion of the Suica area to the Tohoku region, because the population is not as large as Kanto and Kansai, demand is expected to settle down soon.
However as production capacity will not return to previous levels, there is a high possibility that supply and demand will continue to be tight to some extent.
Other Japanese sources say another factor is that all FeliCa manufacturing is down to a single Taiwanese manufacturer, Nuvoton who bought Panasonic’s chip operation in 2020. This means it’s going to be a long bumpy ride as, #1 manufacturers cut production due to the NAND memory glut, the memory used in FeliCa chips and, #2 the last major FeliCa chip manufacturer for Japanese IC card production is in Taiwan. As the saying goes, they’re always a great risk putting all ones eggs in one basket, especially with chip production. But no matter how many times companies learn this hard lesson, they soon forget.
The May 27 Tohoku Suica launch and Suica 2 in 1 Region Affiliate card launches are certainly short term factors in the FeliCa chip shortage as JR East is still selling both registered and unregistered Suica cards in the Tohoku region and Suica 2 in 1 Region Affiliate cards. Outside of the Tohoku area JR East and PASMO will continue to sell plastic commuter passes and inbound speciality cards like Welcome Suica and PASMO PASSPORT, however inventory is tight and will recover slowly.
People assume that Transit IC cards from other regions like ICOCA or SUGOCA are readily available but this is not the case as some operators are quietly limiting sales outlets. SUGOCA for example is not available at station kiosks but kept ‘under the counter’: buyers have to go the nearest JR Train Reservation office and ask for it.
Why not use Mobile Suica and Mobile PASMO then? Unfortunately the mobile situation for inbound visitors isn’t ideal: iPhone 8 and later inbound users can add Suica, but VISA users are limited to iPhone models that support iOS 17.2 and later (iPhone XS/XR and later), and the VISA payment network is completely blocking non-JP issue cards for use with Apple Pay PASMO and ICOCA.
And then there is the Android problem. This is the well known problem of Android manufactures who have the hardware and software in place to use Mobile Suica but kneecap it on non-JP models. Wearable devices like Fitbit and Garmin support Mobile Suica on non-JP models but Suica recharge with Google Pay has the same foreign VISA block that Apple Pay does.
JR East and PASMO already promote Mobile Suica and Mobile PASMO instead of plastic cards for Japanese users with promotion campaigns and reward point enticements. If anything, the plastic Suica • PASMO card shortage is the best Mobile Suica • PASMO promotion ever.
2024-02-07 Update
The JR East Travel Service Center in Narita is now also selling regular Suica cards and word on the street is that inventory is slowly improving. It will be a while still before plastic Suica and PASMO returns to station ticket vending machines, but they should be available from general ticket offices from late February~early March. As alway see the JR East English page for the latest Suica availability information.
2023-12-13 Update
Regular unregistered Suica cards are available at JR East Tokyo Travel Service Centers (Tokyo, Shinagawa, Shinjuku, Shibuya, Ikebukuro, Ueno). Limited to one per person, these are meant for inbound tourists, simply tell the service center staff that you want to buy a Suica. While the Suica shortage is beginning to ease it will take more time before Suica cards can be bought at regular station ticket machines again. See the JR East English page for the latest Suica availability information.
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