Seoul, South Korea – September 15, 2026 -- HD Hyundai Heavy Industries will invest a combined KRW 1.0722 trillion to build a new land-based power generation engine plant and a dedicated small modular reactor (SMR) equipment facility, both in Ulsan, as it races to capture surging power demand from AI data centers.
New 3 GW engine facility targets 2028 startup in Ulsan
The company will spend KRW 833.6 billion on a 215,000-square-meter production complex in Onsan-eup, Ulju-gun, Ulsan, dedicated to HiMSEN engines for land-based power generation. The site will include engine assembly and testing, crankshaft machining, and engine block casting operations. Construction starts in the first quarter of next year, with completion targeted for May 2028 and full-scale operations to follow.
Total HiMSEN output to more than double to 7.2 GW by 2030
The new plant adds 4 GW of annual land-based engine capacity, separating land-based production from HD Hyundai's main Ulsan shipyard, which will focus solely on marine HiMSEN engines. Combined with output from HD Hyundai Engine's Yeongam facility in South Jeolla Province, total HiMSEN production capacity for marine and land-based applications is projected to rise from the current 3 GW to 7.2 GW by 2030.
SMR equipment plant to open in Ulsan shipyard by mid-2029
A separate KRW 238.6 billion investment will fund a dedicated manufacturing facility for key SMR equipment on the grounds of HD Hyundai Heavy Industries' Ulsan shipyard, targeted for completion in the first half of 2029. The OECD projects the global SMR market will expand to 150 GW by 2050, while manufacturing capacity for critical SMR components remains limited industry-wide.
US data center contracts already worth over KRW 1.5 trillion
HD Hyundai Heavy Industries has already entered the U.S. data center power infrastructure market, signing power generation equipment supply agreements with Aperion Energy Group in April, valued at KRW 627.1 billion, and Corban Energy Group in August, valued at KRW 956.0 billion.
An HD Hyundai Heavy Industries official said the investment aims to secure core competitiveness in power generation engines and SMRs as new electricity sources for the AI era, and to lead the global AI infrastructure market.