Hyosung Heavy Industries wins $287m ultra-high-voltage transformer deal with 2 US tech giants

Hyosung Heavy Industries announced Tuesday it has signed contracts worth a combined 386.5 billion won ($287 million) to supply ultra-high-voltage transformers to two major US technology companies.

The transformers will be installed at newly built AI data centers in the southern and northern United States. The order comprises a 220 billion won contract for 765-kilovolt (kV) ultra-high-voltage transformers and a 166.5 billion won contract for 345kV units.

The company said the deals reflect its standing as a key partner in the US power infrastructure market — a position built on the product reliability it has established with big tech firms and other local clients. Hyosung Heavy Industries credited the result to a strategic bet by Hyosung Group Chairman Cho Hyun-joon, who had been preparing the company for the power market shifts driven by AI.

"The AI era has triggered an explosion in power infrastructure demand, ushering in a supercycle not seen in 60 years," Cho said. "We will lift Hyosung Heavy Industries into the global top three within five years, drawing on our total-solution competitiveness — spanning not only transformers and circuit breakers but also power stabilization systems including HVDC, STATCOM and ESS."

Cho has been building up the company's data center and power infrastructure businesses in anticipation of the AI era, paying particular attention to the fact that global data center operators — including big tech firms — are seeking partners who can guarantee stable power supply and rapid deployment. "No matter how many data centers you build, they are useless without power," he has said. "We must develop Hyosung's AI data center business, where all of our capabilities converge, into the group's future growth engine."

The United States is the world's largest power market, with AI data center investment surging — led by big tech companies. The ultra-high-voltage transformer factory in Tennessee that Hyosung Heavy Industries acquired in 2020 has become a key hub in the local supply chain. Once a planned expansion at the Memphis plant is complete, it will hold the largest ultra-high-voltage transformer production capacity in the United States.

In July, the company established a joint venture with Quanta, a leading North American energy infrastructure solutions firm, to manufacture high-voltage circuit breakers locally — completing the hardware foundation for the total-solution strategy Cho has championed, with local production now covering both transformers and circuit breakers. In early September, Hyosung Heavy Industries created a dedicated Data Center Business Team, bringing together engineers for power equipment such as transformers and circuit breakers alongside specialists in stabilization solutions including ESS, microgrids and STATCOM.

Hyosung Heavy Industries has held the No. 1 market share in the US 765kV ultra-high-voltage transformer segment since the early 2010s, supplying roughly half of all 765kV ultra-high-voltage transformers installed on the US transmission grid. Its product lineup also extends to high-voltage circuit breakers ranging from 72.5kV to 800kV. New orders through August reached approximately 9.3 trillion won, already surpassing last year's full-year total, and the company raised its annual order target from 8.4 trillion won to 12 trillion won.