South Korea’s Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-youn visited the Hanwha Robotics headquarters in Pangyo on Apr. 5 to assess the latest advancements in robotics technology. During his visit, Kim wrote in the guestbook, “Let’s create a sustainable tomorrow for humanity with our differentiated technological capabilities.”
Kim also held an hour-long hamburger meeting with Generation MZ (millennials and Generation Z) employees, during which he took a group selfie and signed autographs at their request. Kim Dong-sun, Hanwha Robotics’ Executive Vice President of Strategy and the third son of Chairman Kim, was also in attendance.
Previously, on Mar. 29, Chairman Kim also visited the Hanwha Aerospace R&D Center in Daejeon, marking his first visit to the facility in over five years. On the same day, he attended the home opener of Ryu Hyun-jin, who recently returned from Major League Baseball, at the Daejeon Baseball Stadium. The event gained attention for the ‘Chairman Kim pitching” keyword before the game, with Kim Dong-gwan, Vice Chairman and eldest son of Chairman Kim, accompanying him.
Hanwha has been drawing attention in the business world recently due to Chairman Kim’s resumption of public activities after a health-related absence and the group’s active restructuring efforts. Hanwha is reorganizing its core businesses around the three pillars of ‘defense,’ ‘space and aviation,’ and ‘chemicals and energy,’ with Chairman Kim leading the charge. The business domains of his three sons are becoming clearer around the leadership of Vice Chairman Kim Dong-gwan.
Hanwha announced on Apr. 3 the implementation of ‘small deals’ between affiliates, transferring Hanwha Corporation’s offshore wind power and plant business to Hanwha Ocean (formerly Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering) and its solar power equipment business to Hanwha Solutions. The move aims to strengthen Hanwha Corporation’s holding company function and enhance the competitiveness of Hanwha Ocean’s energy business and Hanwha Solutions’ solar power business.
Since 2020, Hanwha has been reforming its business structure, which is now nearing completion. In 2020, Hanwha Solutions acquired Hanwha Qcells, repositioning itself as a company focused on chemicals and energy. In 2022, Hanwha Aerospace took over Hanwha Corporation’s defense business, leading the group’s defense sector. Recently, Vice Chairman Kim Dong-gwan expressed his intention to intensively develop Hanwha Aerospace’s space and aviation business as a new venture, aligning the business restructuring around the three core businesses.
The core companies of these three pillars are Hanwha Aerospace and Hanwha Solutions. Hanwha Aerospace, leading the ‘K-defense’ industry, has signed large export contracts for its best-selling K9 self-propelled howitzers and Chunmoo multiple launch rocket systems with countries like Poland and Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, Hanwha Ocean, after being acquired by Hanwha last year with the group as the major shareholder, is nurturing its naval ship business as a new pillar of its defense sector. Hanwha Ocean is pursuing a $665 million (900 billion won) acquisition of the Australian company Austal, which supplies ships to the US Navy, aiming to leap into a global defense company.
Hanwha is committed to making its space and aviation business a key driver of group growth. Hanwha Aerospace, previously focused on aviation engines, entered the satellite manufacturing business in 2021 by acquiring Satrec Initiative, Korea’s only satellite technology firm. Additionally, having been selected last month as the sole contractor for Korea’s ‘next-generation space launch vehicle’ project, Hanwha aspires to become Korea’s version of SpaceX. The group plans to collaborate with the Korea Aerospace Research Institute to send a lunar lander by 2032.
