Hyosung Heavy Industries has inaugurated a high-voltage circuit breaker plant in Changwon, South Korea, on October 16, to respond to the global power equipment supercycle and expand its market dominance.
The new facility spans approximately 18,996 square meters and will focus on producing export-oriented circuit breakers rated at 420kV, 550kV, and 800kV. With the launch of this plant, the production capacity for high-voltage circuit breakers at Hyosung's Changwon facility has doubled.
The establishment of the high-voltage circuit breaker plant aligns with Chairman Cho Hyun-joon's vision that power infrastructure is crucial in the AI era, as he has emphasized the need to build a supply base ahead of increasing global demand.
Cho has stated, "The explosive growth of the AI industry will inevitably overload the global power grid. Business opportunities will only come to those companies that prepare diligently with a five-year outlook. We must become a key partner that changes the market landscape and resolves the 'AI bottleneck' for global customers through proactive supply chain investments."
Recently, the global market has been experiencing an 'AI infrastructure bottleneck' as the rapid expansion of AI data centers by big tech companies outpaces the development of power grids.
Hyosung Heavy Industries has restructured its existing circuit breaker plant to focus on domestic models, while the new facility will exclusively produce high-voltage circuit breakers rated at 420kV and above. The company has also established a 'one-stop' mass production system that handles everything from component production to assembly, testing, and shipping in one location.
Notably, the new plant has increased the production capacity for high-voltage circuit breakers rated at 420kV and above by approximately twofold. The production capacity for key components, such as insulation materials, has also been doubled. Hyosung Heavy Industries is the only domestic power equipment manufacturer with in-house production capabilities for insulation materials. The new plant significantly enhances production efficiency and responsiveness to large-scale global orders.
Since starting its business with the development of a 170kV gas circuit breaker in 1978, Hyosung Heavy Industries has led the domestic and international high-voltage circuit breaker market through nearly 50 years of continuous research and development. In 2024, it became the first domestic power equipment company to surpass a cumulative production value of 10 trillion won for circuit breakers.
Hyosung Heavy Industries plans to continue expanding its supply of high-voltage circuit breakers in major power markets, leveraging the new export-oriented plant and local production facilities in countries like India and the United States. In particular, in the European market, the company aims to strengthen collaboration with local power technology institutions centered around its R&D center in the Netherlands, focusing on eco-friendly and customized products to enhance its market dominance.
Hyosung Heavy Industries has also been expanding its production base in the United States. In June, the company established a joint venture with Quanta, the leading infrastructure solutions company in the U.S., becoming the first domestic power equipment manufacturer to have local production capacity for high-voltage circuit breakers. Additionally, it has invested a total of $300 million in its high-voltage transformer plant in Memphis, which, upon completion of ongoing expansions, will possess one of the largest transformer production capacities in the U.S.
Approximately 300 attendees, including Vice Chairman Lee Sang-woon, Democratic Party lawmaker Heo Seong-moo, People Power Party lawmaker Kim Jong-yang, and Korea Electric Research Institute President Kang Sang-hee, are expected to participate in the inauguration ceremony.
Meanwhile, Hyosung Heavy Industries secured orders for high-voltage transformers worth 386.5 billion won from two major U.S. tech companies in September. These products are set to be supplied to new AI data centers being established in the southern and northern regions of the U.S. As of August this year, the cumulative new order amount reached approximately 9.3 trillion won, surpassing last year's total annual order amount, prompting the company to raise its annual order target from 8.4 trillion won to 12 trillion won.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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