Ettifos, a next-generation V2X (vehicle-to-everything) semiconductor specialist, said on the 21st it was finally selected as a "2026 2nd Innovation Premier 1000" corporations by 14 government ministries and agencies, including the Financial Services Commission and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources. Ettifos was recognized in the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources' review for technological innovation and growth potential in the institutional sector of system semiconductors, a national high-tech strategic industry.
Innovation Premier 1000 is a pan-government support program that links financial and industrial policies to foster innovative corporations. It selects corporations with verified innovation and growth, and policy finance institutions such as Korea Development Bank, Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK), Korea Technology Finance Corporation (KOTEC), and Korea Growth Investment Corporation (K-Growth) provide tailored support including loans, guarantees, investment attraction, and consulting.
In this second round, a total of 547 corporations were selected, and Ettifos was included as a corporation in the system semiconductor field among 80 corporations recommended by the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI). As a result, Ettifos will be eligible through the end of next year for various support measures, including preferential interest rates and guarantee fees from policy finance institutions, higher loan and guarantee limits, and policy fund-linked investments.
Ettifos expects the selection to positively affect the recently approved Korea Credit Guarantee Fund (KODIT) PRE-ICON guarantee (7 billion won) and its ongoing Series C fundraising. It also expects to further strengthen its financial and credit base for a special technology listing on KOSDAQ planned for 2028.
Ettifos developed the C-V2X hardware accelerator semiconductor ESAC and is a fabless communications semiconductor corporations that commercialized SIRIUS, a 5G-V2X communication device based on a software-defined modem (SDM). Over the past three years, revenue grew at an average annual rate of 81%, from 620 million won in 2023 to 2.05 billion won this year, and it has continued research and development (R&D) investment exceeding revenue. It currently supplies products to eight countries and has been recognized for technological competitiveness in the global market, including obtaining OmniAir certification in the 5G-V2X field.
Building on this policy finance support, Ettifos plans to accelerate ESAC mass production and expand global supply in the second half of this year. It will also push to establish a local production system to respond to the U.S. "BABA (Build America, Buy America Act)" regulation. It plans to step up development of a defense MANET modem semiconductor for ultra-high-speed, ultra-low-latency hybrid manned-unmanned systems, promoted as a national project by the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI). The company's strategy is to foster V2X, defense, and AI-RAN as its three core business pillars, based on its in-house communications technology secured in the V2X field and its semiconductor design capabilities.
Chief Executive Kim Ho-jun of Ettifos said, "Selection for Innovation Premier 1000 is official recognition from the government of the technological innovation and growth potential we have built up in V2X communications semiconductors," adding, "Leveraging policy finance support, we will speed up ESAC mass production and global market expansion to grow into a leading fabless communications semiconductor corporations representing Korea."