HD Hyundai (267250.KS) will partner with the largest U.S. construction and engineering firm to build a full-scale shipyard equipped with docks in the United States, with groundbreaking set for next year. Unlike Hanwha Group, which acquired the existing Philly Shipyard to target MASGA, a $150 billion Korea-U.S. shipbuilding cooperation project, HD Hyundai has chosen to build a next-generation smart shipyard from the ground up.
HD Hyundai said on the 23rd that it signed an agreement with Kiewit in Houston, Texas, on the 22nd to establish a shipbuilding joint venture named HD Kiewit Shipbuilding. Total investment and the ownership structure have not been determined, but HD Hyundai is expected to secure at least a 51% stake and lead management.
HD Kiewit Shipbuilding plans to build the smart shipyard on an industrial site in the U.S. and is reviewing multiple candidate locations, including California in the west and Texas in the south. The company plans to select a site this year, break ground next year and begin full operations in 2029. It marks the first time a Korean company has built a shipyard in the U.S., and the company expects to employ about 3,000 workers locally once operations are fully under way.
Using the U.S. shipyard as a foothold, HD Kiewit Shipbuilding will pursue orders for U.S. Navy logistics support vessels and commercial ships, while also developing a side business manufacturing and supplying ship blocks and modules to American shipyards. The company is also preparing to enter the port infrastructure sector.