Hyosung Heavy Industries is expanding its customer base from utility companies focused on power infrastructure to AI data center-related enterprises, leveraging increased investments in the U.S. power grid. With an order backlog exceeding the industry average lead time for power equipment manufacturers, expectations for its growth in scale are also rising.
According to relevant industry sources on the 2nd, major customers of Hyosung Heavy Industries' U.S. subsidiary HICO America recently included not only traditional utility companies but also AI data center developers. Notably, Intersect Power accounted for 13% of total revenue, SoftBank for 9%, LS Power for 5%, and xAI for 3%.
Intersect Power was acquired earlier this year by Alphabet, Google's parent company, for $4.75 billion. It owns 2.2 gigawatts (GW) of solar power plants and 2.4 GW of battery storage facilities in Texas and California. Google plans to build renewable energy generation and storage facilities near data centers through Intersect Power.
SoftBank is advancing "Stargate," a joint project with global tech giants such as OpenAI and Oracle to construct AI data centers in the United States. xAI, founded by Elon Musk, is also moving forward with data center construction projects.
Hyosung Heavy Industries' order backlog is already growing rapidly, centered on the North American market. Of its second-quarter order backlog this year (17.5 trillion won), the North American market accounted for 57%, a significant increase from 44% during the same period last year. While the industry average lead time for power equipment manufacturers is 2–3 years, Hyosung Heavy Industries has secured orders for 765-kilovolt (kV) equipment scheduled for delivery in 2031.
As a supplier-favorable market continues, Hyosung Heavy Industries is aggressively expanding its local production capacity. The Memphis plant in Tennessee, USA, is undergoing a third expansion phase by 2028. Upon completion of the expansion, ultra-high-voltage transformer production capacity will increase by 50% compared to current levels.
Additionally, recent warnings from U.S. President Donald Trump that foreign-made power equipment could threaten national security and cybersecurity of the U.S. power grid are expected to further enhance Hyosung Heavy Industries' competitiveness due to its established local production capabilities in the United States. An industry executive stated, "The expansion of the North American AI data center industry is accelerating the diversification of Hyosung Heavy Industries' customer base," and added, "As the only company capable of selling transformers and ultra-high-voltage circuit breakers together in the U.S., it will have more order opportunities."
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