HD Hyundai Heavy Industries will invest about KRW 1 trillion in land-based power generation engines and small modular reactors (SMRs) in response to rising electricity demand driven by the expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) data centers. On the 10th, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries announced that it will invest KRW 1.0722 trillion in establishing a new production base for power generation engines and building a dedicated plant for manufacturing main SMR equipment.

HD Hyundai Heavy Industries will invest KRW 833.6 billion to construct a 3 GW (gigawatt) “HiMSEN engine” production base in Onsan-eup, Ulju-gun, Ulsan. On a site of about 215,000㎡, it will build an engine assembly and testing plant, a crankshaft machining plant, an engine block casting plant, and other facilities. Construction is scheduled to begin in the first quarter (January–March) of next year and be completed in May 2028. By adding the new plant to its existing 1 GW-class production facilities in areas including Yeongam, South Jeolla Province, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries expects to secure an annual land-based power generation engine production capacity of 4 GW in total. A capacity of 4 GW corresponds to the annual electricity consumption of 9 million households.

The existing Ulsan plant will focus on producing HiMSEN engines for ships, while the new plant and HD Hyundai Engine in Yeongam will specialize in manufacturing engines for land-based power generation, thereby dividing roles. Through this, the company plans to increase its total HiMSEN engine production capacity from the current 3 GW to 7.2 GW by 2030.

It will invest KRW 238.6 billion in the SMR sector. A dedicated plant for manufacturing main SMR equipment will be built within the Ulsan Shipyard and is scheduled for completion in the first half of 2029 (January–June). SMRs, with lower output than conventional large nuclear power plants, are attracting attention as a power source for AI data centers because they can provide stable electricity supply and reduce carbon emissions at the same time.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) forecasts that the global SMR market will grow to a scale of 150 GW by 2050. HD Hyundai Heavy Industries plans to foster power generation engines and SMRs as core pillars of its next-generation power infrastructure business. HD Hyundai Heavy Industries stated, “Through this investment, the company will proactively respond to rapidly increasing electricity demand and secure a leading position in the global AI infrastructure market.”

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