In 2022, Taiwan boasted of more than 1.63 million small and medium enterprises, according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs of Taiwan. This accounts for more than 98 percent of all enterprises. Furthermore, SMEs employed 9.13 million people, representing 80 percent of the total workforce.

In the same period, Taiwanese SMEs exceeded NT$28 trillion (P49.36 trillion) in total revenue, accounting for more than half of the revenue generated by all domestic enterprises, and the export volume reached NT$3.6 trillion, with an annual growth rate of more than 7 percent.

Thanks to their research and development capabilities, among the backbone enterprises, many of them are hailed as hidden champions.

Day Young Cup, which was founded in 1996, is considered one of the top three leaders in Taiwan for manufacturing quality food packaging.

The CEO of Day Young Cup found it difficult and costly to recycle paper food containers because most paper-packaging products are polyethylene coated in the inner layer to prevent leaking, thus special chemicals have to be used to separate the paper and plastic, and the recycling rates are actually not high around the world.

To solve this problem, Lee decided to adopt waterproof paper pulp and apply physical principles to make the products 100 percent waterproof, one that can decompose naturally and be recycled after use.

Day Young Cup says its zero-plastic "all-paper" containers use food-grade paper that meets the US Food and Drug Administration and Forest Stewardship Council certifications. Its packaging products are used by companies and restaurant chains, such as Qatar Airways, Cold Stone Creamery, Din Tai Fung and Chili's.

What's more, during the Covid pandemic, due to the difficulties of obtaining face masks, the Taiwan government established a National Face Mask Team by recruiting face mask and paper manufacturers to work together in one month and making Taiwan the world's second largest mask producer. Day Young Cup was a member of the team to help making sure that citizens can get sufficient and affordable masks.

According to the book Hidden Champions of the 21st Century by Hermann Simon, chairman of Simon-Kucher & Partners, a strategy and marketing consultancy, there are 105 companies in Taiwan that meet the requirements of hidden champions and the number of hidden champions per million residents in Taiwan is 4.45, the highest number of hidden champions per capita in Asia.

Data shows that 25.76 percent of hidden champion enterprises in Taiwan are computer or smartphone suppliers, 14.29 percent of them are integrated circuit manufacturers, 11.43 percent are automotive components, bicycles and their components manufacturers, and 9.52 percent are machinery manufacturers.

Some of the backbone enterprises better known to the public are Mobiletron Co. Ltd., one of the world's largest automotive engine parts factories, Fair Friend Group, the world's third-largest machine tool group, Sunspring Metal Corp., one of the world's largest manufacturers of zinc cast faucet components, and Marwi Group, the world's third-largest bicycle pedal manufacturer.

One can also find in Taiwan the manufacturer of core parts for major American electric vehicle producers, the world's second largest collaborative robot brand and the processing machines capable of adapting to the largest temperature differences in the world.

While Taiwan's hidden champions are scattered in different industries, something in common is that in recent years, they have been working hard to make their factories smarter to respond to competitions and challenges, as well as rising opportunities.