HD Hyundai expands into nuclear power, AI under Chung

By Maekyung News Service

HD Hyundai Chairman Chung Ki-sun marks his first year in the role on Saturday, having driven record earnings amid a shipbuilding boom and completed major business mergers while expanding into nuclear power and artificial intelligence (AI).

HD Hyundai Co., the conglomerate’s holding company, posted operating profit of 6.96 trillion won ($5.18 billion) in the first half of 2026, up 187 percent from a year earlier and already exceeding its full-year 2025 profit of 6.1 trillion won.

Shipbuilding affiliate HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co. has an order backlog worth about 100 trillion won. HD Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. said in a regulatory filing on Thursday that it signed a 625.8 billion won contract on Wednesday with a Middle Eastern ship owner to build four very large gas carriers.

Including the deal, HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering’s orders totaled $19.25 billion this year, or 82.6 percent of its annual target.

HD Hyundai Electric Co. posted operating margins of 24 percent to 25 percent in both the first and second quarters. Across the group, assets totaled 89.18 trillion won at the end of 2025 and could approach 100 trillion won this year, according to some forecasts.

Chung has also overseen the completion of business restructuring plans initiated while he was executive vice chairman.

HD Hyundai Heavy Industries and HD Hyundai Mipo merged in December 2025, combining their commercial shipbuilding and naval vessel operations and increasing flexibility in dock use. HD Construction Equipment Co. launched in January after the integration of HD Hyundai Construction Equipment and HD Hyundai Infracore It aims to generate 14.8 trillion won in revenue by 2030 under the Hyundai and Develon brands.

HD Hyundai Heavy Industries has secured two contracts this year to supply power generation equipment for AI data centers in the U.S., worth a combined 1.58 trillion won. In September, it announced investments totaling 1.07 trillion won, including 833.6 billion won for a new power generation engine production facility in Onsan, Ulsan, and 238.6 billion won for a factory dedicated to major components for small modular reactors.

The company plans to more than double annual production capacity for its Hi-touch Marine & Stationary Engine (HiMSEN) power generation engines to 7.2 gigawatts by 2028, from 3 gigawatts. HD Hyundai Heavy Industries developed the medium-speed engine in 2000. The engines are used in marine generators and land-based power plants.

HD Hyundai is also pursuing nuclear power projects with TerraPower LLC, a U.S. small modular reactor company founded by Bill Gates in 2008.

In May, HD Hyundai signed an agreement with TerraPower and Hyundai Engineering & Construction for a next-generation sodium-cooled reactor project. HD Hyundai will manufacture major reactor components, while Hyundai Engineering & Construction will handle engineering, procurement and construction. Chung met Gates during his visit to Korea in August to discuss commercialization.

The group is also exploring further overseas manufacturing capacity. In addition to production facilities in the Philippines and Vietnam, it is in talks to establish a new shipyard in India’s Tamil Nadu state. HD Hyundai is working with U.S. data analytics company Palantir Technologies Inc. to integrate shipyard data and expand the use of artificial intelligence in decision-making.

Naval defense is another priority for Chung’s second year as group chairman.

He met the Philippine defense secretary in September to discuss warship exports and cooperation with the country’s shipbuilding industry. HD Hyundai Heavy Industries is pursuing follow-on frigate projects in the Philippines and a next-generation frigate contract in Saudi Arabia.

It is also jointly developing a prototype autonomous unmanned surface vessel with U.S. defense company Anduril Industries Inc.

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