Hyosung Heavy targets global top-three status as data center demand fuels expansion
Hyosung Heavy Industries has won 386.5 billion won ($286 million) in extra-high-voltage transformer orders from two major US technology companies this month, reinforcing Chair Cho Hyun-joon’s push to position power infrastructure as a core growth engine in the AI era.
The contracts cover transformers for new AI data centers in the southern and northern US. They comprise 220 billion won worth of 765-kilovolt transformers and 166.5 billion won worth of 345-kV units, the company said Tuesday.
The deals come as Cho accelerates Hyosung Heavy Industries’ expansion in the US, where the rapid construction of AI data centers is straining power grids and driving investment in transmission and distribution equipment.
Citing Goldman Sachs, the company said US data center electricity demand is projected to grow by an annual average of 15 percent through 2030, prompting about $50 billion in new power infrastructure investment.
Under Cho’s leadership, Hyosung Heavy Industries has expanded both its local manufacturing presence and its ability to provide integrated power solutions.
In July, the company established a joint venture with North American energy infrastructure company Quanta to manufacture extra-high-voltage circuit breakers in the US. The move adds circuit breakers to its local production portfolio alongside transformers.
Earlier this month, Hyosung Heavy Industries formed a dedicated data center business team bringing together specialists in transformers, circuit breakers, energy storage systems, microgrids and static synchronous compensators, or STATCOMs. The team is intended to provide comprehensive power infrastructure services to global data center operators.
The expansion has contributed to a sharp increase in orders. New orders reached about 9.3 trillion won through August, already exceeding the company’s total for all of 2025. Hyosung Heavy Industries subsequently raised its annual order target from 8.4 trillion won to 12 trillion won.
The company has held a leading position in the US market for 765-kV transformers since the early 2010s and has supplied nearly half of the units currently installed on the country’s transmission grid, according to Hyosung. Its portfolio also includes circuit breakers ranging from 72.5 kV to 800 kV and grid-stabilization equipment such as STATCOMs.
Hyosung Heavy Industries is also expanding its transformer plant in Memphis, Tennessee, which it acquired in 2020, to capture growing demand from data centers and utilities.
“Demand for power infrastructure is surging in the AI era, creating a supercycle unseen in 60 years,” Cho said.
“Drawing on our total-solution capabilities across transformers, circuit breakers, high-voltage direct current systems, STATCOMs and energy storage systems, we aim to make Hyosung Heavy Industries one of the world’s top three players within five years.”
yejinlim@heraldcorp.com
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