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HD Hyundai Launches HD Hyundai Naval Ship Research Institute to Create the World’s Leading Cradle of Naval Technology

2024.07.17

HD Hyundai launched the HD Hyundai Naval Ship Research Institute at the Pangyo HD Hyundai Global R&D Center on Wednesday. (From left to right in the photo: Lim Dohyeong, the CEO of Avikus; Kim Jong-bae, the General Manager of HD Hyundai Heavy Industries; Joo Wonho, the Head of HD Hyundai Heavy Industries' Naval & Special Ship Business Unit; Chung Kisun, the Vice Chairman of HD Hyundai; Kim Sungjoon, the CEO of HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering; Chang Kwangpil, the Director of HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering’s Advanced Research Center; Sul Seungki, the Technology Advisor of HD Hyundai

▶ HD Hyundai Heavy Industries’ Naval Ship Research Department expanded with the integration of electrification, digitalization, and AI with 50 years of expertise
▶ Aiming to secure future naval source technology and penetrate into a KRW 113 trillion naval market
▶ Vice Chairman Chung Kisun stated, "We will strengthen South Korea’s leap to becoming one of the top four defense powers with the world’s leading smart naval technologies"

Seoul, South Korea – July 17, 2024 - HD Hyundai launched the HD Hyundai Naval Ship Research Institute, aiming to capture an estimated KRW 113 trillion (USD 81.8 billion) naval market over the next decade.

HD Hyundai announced that it inaugurated its Naval Ship Research Institute at the Pangyo HD Hyundai Global R&D Center on Wednesday, 17^th.

Fifty officials, including the Vice Chairman of HD Hyundai, Chung Kisun, the CEO of HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, Kim Sungjoon, the Head of HD Hyundai Heavy Industries' Naval & Special Ship Business Unit, Joo Wonho, and the Director of HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering’s Advanced Research Center, Chang Kwangpil, attended the event.

The newly formed research institute has been expanded from the Naval Ship Research Department of HD Hyundai Heavy Industries' Naval & Special Ship Business Unit and will operate under the Advanced Research Center at HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering.

The Advanced Research Center serves as a control tower overseeing HD Hyundai's R&D efforts. It secures core future source technologies and provides applied technologies necessary for key business units within the group.

HD Hyundai anticipates that its recent launch will facilitate the establishment of a technology integration system to efficiently address the dynamic naval market. In particular, the rapid combination with the center’s electrification, digitalization, and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies is expected to secure core future naval technologies. The center is currently developing its proprietary drives-power converters for ship propulsion-, essential for electric propulsion ships, and is advancing its AI solution for commercial ships that has been successfully demonstrated as the world’s first.

Through this initiative, HD Hyundai intends to focus on the global naval market by developing export models along with next-generation naval ships for the navy. According to Janes Market Forecast, a UK military specialist magazine, about 1,100 new naval ships worth approximately KRW 113 trillion are expected to be ordered over the next decade, starting this year.

HD Hyundai plans to use its newly established research institute as a focal point to advance three core strategies in the naval sector: electrification of naval ships, development of unmanned naval ships, and enhanced competitiveness of naval ship exports. These strategies are aimed at gaining a competitive edge in the global naval market. Additionally, the company plans to continuously bolster its workforce with expertise in the naval field.

"The paradigm of the naval & special ship market is undergoing a significant transformation, centered on smart naval ships with advanced digital technologies,” said Chung in his speech. “Let us make the HD Hyundai Naval Research Institute a cradle of the world's leading naval technologies and contribute to elevating our country to become one of the top four global defense powers."

Meanwhile, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries has built a total of 106 naval ships to date, including 18 overseas orders from countries such as New Zealand, Peru, and the Philippines, beginning with the first indigenous Korean frigate; the Ulsan-class, in 1975. Recently, the company gained qualification to participate in the maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) business by signing a Master Ship Repair Agreement (MSRA) contract with the U.S. Navy for the first time in Korea.

Additionally, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries has exclusively undertaken the entire basic design of the latest domestically built Aegis destroyers, including the Sejong the Great-class and Jeongjo the Great-class. The company leads the domestic naval market by securing contracts for five out of six Aegis destroyers commissioned by the Republic of Korea Navy.

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