Hyundai and HII Expand Relationship Targeting US Navy and Commercial Ships

HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, South Korea’s largest shipbuilder, and HII (Huntington Ingalls Industries) signed an agreement designed to further expand their cooperation in shipbuilding and repair, as they target the U.S. Navy and commercial shipping. It is the next step in support of a relationship was launched this year, designed to take advantage of the opportunities in South Korea’s Make American Shipbuilding Great Again initiative.

HII and HHI signed the agreement at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum to advance their joint objectives in the shipbuilding dialogue between the United States and South Korea. As part of the trade negotiations, South Korea pledged earlier this year to invest $150 billion in the U.S. shipbuilding industry as part of a larger $350 billion investment to support the United States. South Korea’s HD Hyundai and Hanwha Ocean are the two shipbuilders moving most aggressively to capture the opportunities.

Hyundai and HII cite the exploration of joint investments to strengthen and expand U.S. shipbuilding as one of their key goals. They are also discussing “strategic teaming” opportunities and plan to collaborate on engineering, R&D, and technology implementation.

“This marks the beginning of deeper collaboration between not only our companies, but each of our countries, that will support enduring changes to military and commercial shipbuilding in America,” said Eric Chewning, HII’s executive vice president of maritime systems and corporate strategy. “We look forward to working collaboratively with HHI, the U.S. and South Korean governments, and with our customers to transform the U.S. shipbuilding industrial base and enable accelerated throughput in our shipyards.”

The agreement follows an announcement that the two shipbuilders were jointly pursuing the assignment for the U.S. Navy’s next-generation logistics ship. The Navy recently released a request for proposals for the design contract.

They look to leverage HII’s strong relationship with the U.S. Navy and HHI’s track record of building auxiliary vessels. The South Korean company highlights that it delivered its first auxiliary vessels, HMNZS Endeavour in 1987 and the new HMNZS Aotearoa in 2020, both to the Royal New Zealand Navy. Hyundai also cites three Cheonji-class and one Soyang-class auxiliary ships supplied to the South Korean Navy.

The two companies announced their partnership in April, reporting they would be focusing on best practices to improve cost efficiency and shorten construction schedules. They have also said they were exploring opportunities to expand U.S. shipbuilding capacity for national security, and HD Hyundai has been reported to be considering buying a U.S. shipyard.

Hyundai says it is committed to strengthening the U.S. Navy Indo-Pacific in-theater ship lifecycle support. After being certified in 2024 to bid in the U.S. Navy’s MRO (Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul) business, HD Hyundai began its first repair assignment in September 2025 on the support ship USNS Alan Shepard at its HD Hyundai Mipo yard in Ulsan, South Korea.