Visa today announced that already more than one million Visa EMV chip-enabled credit cards have been issued by U.S. financial institutions.

EMV chip technology refers a microchip that is embedded in the credit card. It was developed by Europay, MasterCard and Visa (EMV) to improve security against fraud and ensure global interoperability. The technology is widely used outside of the U.S., there are some places (like ticket vending machines) that only accept EMV cards. EMV chips can be deployed with a variety of verification methods including signature as well as PIN. Under Visa’s approach, both methods will continue to be available to issuers and merchants in the U.S.

Stephanie Ericksen, head of authentication product integration at Visa is happy with the development: “Since announcing our roadmap last year, we have seen strong interest among U.S. issuers large and small to invest in chip technology, as today’s milestone shows. The progress is all the more significant considering that just 18 months ago, there were no Visa-branded EMV contact chip cards issued in the U.S.”