▲ AI PRISM* Personalized Economic Briefing
* Editor's note: AI PRISM (Personalized Report & Insight Summarizing Media) is an artificial intelligence-based personalized news recommendation and summary service developed with support from the Korea Press Foundation. It selects and delivers six news items tailored to each reader type.
[Key Issue Briefing]
■ Widening growth pillars: One year into his tenure, HD Hyundai (267250) Chairman Chung Ki-sun has pushed the group's business map beyond shipbuilding and construction equipment into power infrastructure for AI data centers and next-generation nuclear reactors. With orders for power-generation engines bound for North American data centers piling up, the group has poured about 1.4 trillion won into energy infrastructure as a new business line alone.
■ Resource weaponization: After China used rare earth export controls to squeeze a small German supplier working with ASML, the European Union discussed trading away sanctions with Beijing, according to reports. Through its export licensing regime, China has amassed wide-ranging information on global supply chains and is seen as having struck precisely at the weak link in Europe's semiconductor supply chain.
■ AI earnings rally: TSMC set a quarterly net profit record for the sixth straight quarter on surging orders for AI chips. Its margin, however, slipped from the previous quarter as early mass-production costs for its 2-nanometer process were reflected.
[News of Interest to Corporate CEOs]
1. Beyond Shipbuilding to AI Data Centers and Nuclear: HD Hyundai Widens Its Growth Pillars
- Key points: Chung Ki-sun, who marks one year as HD Hyundai chairman on the 17th, is rapidly broadening a business structure centered on shipbuilding and construction equipment into power infrastructure for AI data centers and next-generation nuclear reactors. HD Hyundai posted consolidated revenue of 42.01 trillion won and operating profit of 6.96 trillion won in the first half, its best results since the holding company was launched in 2018, with revenue up 22.5% and operating profit up 187.0% from a year earlier. At the center is the Himsen medium-speed engine, developed from the company's ship engine technology. After cumulative orders topped 1.5 trillion won this year, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (329180) decided to invest 833.6 billion won by 2028 to expand production facilities in Onsan-eup, Ulju-gun, Ulsan. Orders for special-purpose vessels in the first half, however, came to $364 million, just 12.1% of this year's target of $3.016 billion. Labor disputes, including partial strikes and the rejection of a tentative wage and collective bargaining agreement, along with on-site safety management following a serious industrial accident, remain challenges.
2. EU Ultimately Yields to China's Resource Weaponization
- Key points: The European Union is pushing to lift sanctions on Chinese companies in order to rescue a German semiconductor parts maker pushed to the brink of collapse by China's rare earth restrictions, according to reports. Bloomberg reported that the EU and China discussed a swap at high-level trade talks in Beijing on the 8th and 9th of this month, under which the EU would lift trade restrictions on Chinese firms accused of supporting Russia's war effort while China would lift sanctions on Germany's Sindlhauser Materials. Sindlhauser, which supplies parts to ASML, the world's largest maker of lithography equipment, depends entirely on Chinese rare earths and critical minerals and was reportedly facing closure within months if the sanctions remained in place. Over the past year and a half, China has used its export licensing system to collect extensive supply chain data, including end-customer information and the uses of raw materials. Bloomberg noted that the German government has yet to devise a strategy to address the resulting gap in economic intelligence.
3. Is a TaylorMade Sale Near? F&F and Entrada Size Each Other Up
- Key points: A tug-of-war is under way over the sale of global golf brand TaylorMade between the preferred bidder, a U.S. Entrada consortium, and F&F, which holds a right of first refusal. Centroid Investment, the seller, has largely completed preparations to sign a share purchase agreement with Entrada, but the deal, expected to be valued at about $2.8 billion (roughly 3.8 trillion won), has been delayed as Entrada hesitates over a final decision. The biggest variable is F&F's right of first refusal. For Entrada, even after spending billions of won on due diligence and signing a contract, the acquisition could fall apart if F&F exercises its right on identical terms. Meanwhile, the won-dollar exchange rate, which comfortably exceeded 1,500 won in the middle of this year, has fallen to the mid-1,300 won range, giving F&F considerably more firepower in won terms. F&F has secured letters of commitment from Samsung Securities (016360), Korea Investment & Securities and Mirae Asset Securities (006800), preparing to acquire the brand outright.
[Reference News for Corporate CEOs]
4. [Global Hot Stock] Beyond Cruises to Resorts: Royal Caribbean Broadens Its Growth Engines
- Key points: Global cruise operator Royal Caribbean Cruises is widening its growth engines with new ships and land-based resorts. Profitability stalled in the second quarter on higher fuel and labor costs, but third-quarter capacity is projected to rise 8.5% from a year earlier while cost per available berth day excluding fuel is expected to fall 1.2% to 1.7%, prompting forecasts that top-line growth and cost improvement could come together. Legend of the Seas, the third ship in the Icon class, was delivered in June and deployed on Mediterranean and Caribbean routes from July, and from October 2027 Quantum of the Seas will be stationed in Singapore to target the Asian market. In September the company also agreed to acquire a 50% stake in Sandals and Beaches Resorts for about $3 billion, expanding its business into a comprehensive leisure platform. It lowered its annual guidance in July, however, to reflect geopolitical risk on some routes, and managing the cost and financial burden from new ship and resort investments remains a challenge.
- Key points: Hanwha Life Insurance is pursuing an issue of capital securities worth up to 800 billion won, sending requests for proposals to domestic brokerages to select underwriters. Its K-ICS ratio stood at 167% at the end of the first half, above the recommended level, but concerns about a decline have grown as about 700 billion won is being committed to the acquisition of Acquon Capital and a rights offering for its subsidiary Hanwha Investment & Securities (003530). A $750 million (about 1 trillion won) 10-year subordinated bond issued overseas in 2022 carries a call option, leaving the insurer facing the burden of redeeming about 1 trillion won from February next year. Hanwha Life Insurance's own share of the Acquon purchase price is 440 billion won, and an additional 430 billion won could be required if Centroid PE exercises a put option, so downward pressure is expected to intensify if the turnaround is delayed.
6. TSMC Third-Quarter Revenue Up 17.6% From Prior Quarter; Margin Slows
- Key points: TSMC of Taiwan, the world's largest foundry, or contract chipmaker, posted record third-quarter results on surging demand for AI chips. Third-quarter net profit came to NT$763.06 billion (about 31.8 trillion won), up 68.7% from a year earlier and a record for the sixth consecutive quarter, while revenue rose 50.9% to NT$1,494.24 billion (about 62.2 trillion won). Orders from major customers such as Nvidia lifted results, pushing high-performance computing's share of revenue to 68%, up 11 percentage points from a year earlier, while the share from the 2-nanometer process jumped to 8% from 3% in the previous quarter. Gross margin, however, fell 1.3 percentage points from the previous quarter to 66.4%, and concerns have been raised over the lofty valuations of AI technology stocks and the sustainability of large-scale capital spending.
