Twenty more companies, including Value Engineering, were selected as Hidden Companies. It mainly included companies in semiconductors, electric and electronics, and environmental and energy sector.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 28th that it has selected 20 companies through a project named ‘100+ Hidden Companies’. This is an additional selection following the selection of 100 companies in last year and this year.

Accordingly, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups changed the name of the project from '100 Hidden Companies’ to '100+ Hidden Companies'. The selection field has also expanded from semiconductors, displays, and electronics to bio, green energy, and non-face-to-face digital fields.

An official from the Ministry of SMEs and Startups said, "Beyond responding to Japan's export regulations, we will provide step-by-step support for technological innovation for up to five years to respond to global changes first and achieve results in technological innovation and commercialization quickly.

8 out of the 20 additional selected companies came from the semiconductor field. Value Engineering is a manufacturer of arc chamber, a semiconductor ion implantation device component.

Hidden Companies will be provided with full-cycle support from technology development to commercialization. Starting next year, it will introduce R&D projects exclusively and provide up to 2 billion won per company. In the case of conducting joint research with contributing research institutes and universities, up to 1.2 billion won will be provided per company. Investment-type R&D will also be expanded. Hidden Companies can make matching investments up to twice as much as 3 billion won.

Won Young-joon, a technology innovation policy officer at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, said, "According to the background of the launch of Hidden Companies and the support policy of the special semiconductor law, It has the highest selection rate in the semiconductor field and the third-largest number of next-generation secondary batteries and fuel cell companies that have recently become a hot topic.“