U.S. chipmaker Broadcom Corp expects near-field communications (NFC) wireless technology to be a main revenue driver in coming years, a senior executive said on Tuesday, when it becomes more of a norm for consumers use their handphones to make payments.

NFC is a way to swap data wirelessly, allowing for example mobile phones to be used pay for goods, store e-tickets or swap photos and business cards.

We think it's going to be a very big deal, Michael Hurlston, vice president and general manager of Broadcom's Wireless LAN business, told Reuters in an interview at the Computex PC show in Taipei.

(Reporting by Lee Chyen Yee and Argin Chang)