Chairman Cho Hyun-joon's early US bet pays off with landmark deal
Hyosung Heavy Industries has secured a power equipment deal worth about 787 billion won ($540.6 million) in the US, marking the largest single-project contract ever won by a Korean power equipment company in the US.
According to the company Tuesday, it will supply 765-kilovolt ultra-high-voltage, or UHV, transformers, reactors and related equipment to a leading US transmission system operator.
Building on last year’s milestone “full package” deal covering 765-kilovolt UHV transformers and 800-kilovolt UHV circuit breakers in the region, Hyosung Heavy Industries said the latest contract solidifies its dominance in the US 765-kilovolt transmission market.
Compared with existing 345-kilovolt and 500-kilovolt systems, 765-kilovolt transmission networks enable long-distance, high-capacity power delivery while significantly reducing energy losses. As electricity demand surges with the rapid expansion of AI data centers, US power suppliers are increasingly turning to these high-performance 765-kilovolt grids.
Hyosung said its early commitment to the US is paying off, a strategy spearheaded by Chairman Cho Hyun-joon, who decided to acquire a UHV transformer plant in Memphis, Tennessee, in 2020 — long before US tariff risks surfaced. That bet has made Hyosung the only company operating a US-based facility capable of manufacturing 765-kilovolt systems.
While the US government currently levies tariffs of up to 50 percent on certain power equipment and related components, Hyosung is able to skirt such pressures. Leveraging this advantage, the company has supplied nearly half of all 765-kilovolt UHV transformers currently installed across the US transmission grid.
Cho is further strengthening the company’s US footprint by investing $49 million to more than double UHV transformer output at its Memphis plant by expanding testing and production facilities this year, and plans to invest an additional $157 million to boost capacity by more than 50 percent by 2028.
A Hyosung official said Cho’s bold move had input from key US political and business leaders, as he engaged extensively with overseas stakeholders and identified early on the need to secure additional capacity.
Cho has repeatedly met with Sen. Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, a close ally of US President Donald Trump, as well as Oracle CEO Safra Catz, GE Vernova CEO Scott Strazik and Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee. He has also held discussions with senior government officials, including US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright and US Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Scott Turner.
Hyosung’s other key competitive advantage over Korean rivals such as LS Electric and HD Hyundai Electric lies in its ability to provide full-package solutions to US utilities.
“As the outdated US transmission network is being upgraded, 765-kilovolt systems require more than just transformers. High-spec equipment, including 800-kilovolt circuit breakers, is essential across the entire system — an area where we stand out from suppliers that offer only individual components,” the Hyosung official said.
Even before Cho’s big US bet, Hyosung had laid the groundwork in the market, establishing its US subsidiary in 2001 and becoming the first Korean company to export 765-kilovolt transformers to the country in 2010. Since the early 2010s, it has maintained the No.1 market share in the US.
hyejin2@heraldcorp.com
