Nam Hyun-woo has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2013, mostly covering business and politics. He currently belongs to the Business Desk where he covers topics such as emerging tech, AI, ICT and Korea's chaebol community. Prior to joining the team, he was the paper's correspondent for the presidential office of Korea during the Yoon Suk Yeol and Moon Jae-in administrations.
Hyosung chairman bets high on US power grid market to cope with AI demand
Hyosung Heavy Industries' extra-high-voltage transformer plant in Memphis, Tenn. / Courtesy of Hyosung Group
By Nam Hyun-woo
Hyosung Group Chairman Cho Hyun-joon / Courtesy of Hyosung Group
Hyosung Group Chairman Cho Hyun-joon is making a strategic push into the U.S. power grid market by scaling up the company’s power transformer plant in Tennessee, which will become the largest of its kind in the country, to meet rapidly growing electricity demand from artificial intelligence (AI) data centers.
According to Hyosung Heavy Industries said Tuesday it is investing $157 million in its Memphis plant to expand extra-high-voltage transformer manufacturing capacity by more than 50 percent by 2028.
With this latest decision, Hyosung Heavy Industries’ total investment in the Memphis plant will amount to $300 million, including the acquisition of the plant. This will make the facility the largest in the United States in terms of production capacity of high-voltage transformers.
The Memphis plant is the only U.S. facility that can design and manufacture 765-kilovolt transformers, better able to reduce power loss compared to lower voltage transformers such as 345-kilovolt or 500-kilovolt models.
Since the early 2010s, Hyosung Heavy Industries has been a dominant supplier in the U.S. 765-kilovolt transformer market, supplying nearly half of the units installed across the country’s power grid.
According to Hyosung, the latest investment came in line with Cho’s push for the company to improve its preparedness for soaring U.S. power demands.
According to Global Market Insights, the U.S. transformer market is projected to grow an average of 7.7 percent annually, from $12.2 billion in 2024 to $25.7 billion in 2034. The surge is being driven by the exponential rise in power demand from AI data centers and the growing need to replace obsolete infrastructure across the U.S. power grid.
Against this backdrop, Cho spearheaded Hyosung’s 2020 acquisition of the Memphis plant, believing that the growth potential of the U.S. electricity market and the plant’s scalability outweighed the risks related to the takeover.
Cho has been engaging with key policymakers and industry leaders in the global electricity sector to explore cooperation opportunities in the fast-changing industry’s landscape. This year, he met with U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Oracle Executive Vice Chair Safra Catz and International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol to discuss changes in the energy market and potential areas of collaboration.
Currently, Hyosung Group is reviewing the U.S. Donald Trump administration’s proposal to participate in energy infrastructure projects, including the Stargate data center project.
“The future of the electricity industry depends not only on infrastructure but also on the ability to manage power flow, storage and stability in an integrated manner,” Cho said.
“Based on our strengthened status in the North American market, we will consolidate our standing as the world’s No. 1 total solution provider.”