HD Hyundai Heavy to bet $747 mil. in power-generation engine, SMR
HD Hyundai Heavy Industries' HiMSEN land-based power generation engine / Courtesy of HD Hyundai Heavy Industries
HD Hyundai Heavy Industries will invest 1 trillion won ($746.7 million) in land-based power generation engines and small modular reactors (SMRs) to strengthen its presence in the artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure market.
The company said in a regulatory filing Thursday that it will invest 1.07 trillion won to build a new production base for power generation engines and a dedicated manufacturing facility for SMRs.
Of that amount, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries will invest 833.6 billion won to build a new production base for its HiMSEN engines in Ulsan, with an annual production capacity of 3 gigawatts.
The new production base will occupy a 215,000 square meter site and will include an engine assembly and testing plant, a crankshaft machining plant and other production facilities. Construction is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of next year, with completion slated for May 2028.
When completed, HD Hyundai expects to it will secure 4 gigawatts of annual production capacity for land-based power generation engines. The new plant and HD Hyundai Engine in Yeongam, Jeonnam-Gwangju Special Metropolitan City, will focus on engines for land-based power generation, while marine engine production will remain concentrated at the existing Ulsan plant.
HD Hyundai Heavy Industries said the investment is aimed at accelerating the company’s push into the land-based power generation market to respond to rapidly growing electricity demand from AI data centers.
HD Hyundai Heavy Industries will also invest 238.6 billion won to build a dedicated manufacturing plant for main equipment used in SMRs. The facility will be built next to HD Hyundai Heavy Industries’ Ulsan shipyard and is scheduled for completion in the first half of 2029.
According to the OECD, the global SMR market is expected to grow to 150 gigawatts by 2050. However, only a limited volume of orders for SMR main equipment has so far been confirmed with manufacturers, suggesting significant room for future growth.
“The investment is aimed at securing core competitiveness in power generation engines and SMRs, which are emerging as new power sources in the AI era,” an HD Hyundai Heavy Industries official said. “We will proactively respond to surging power demand and secure an early foothold in the global AI infrastructure market.”
HD Hyundai Heavy Industries has signed data center power generation equipment supply deals with U.S.-based Aperion Energy Group and Corban Energy Group in April and August, worth 627.1 billion won and 956 billion won, respectively.