HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, the world’s largest commercial and military shipbuilder, and Anduril Industries, the world’s leading venture-backed defense company, have agreed to a strategic partnership to reimagine and rebuild naval power for the United States, the Republic of Korea, and their allies and partners. This agreement brings together the complementary capabilities of two leading companies. With more than five decades of experience, HD Hyundai is the global leader in the development and production of commercial vessels, warships, submarines, and other maritime systems as the largest part of a South Korean shipbuilding industry that currently accounts for nearly half of total shipbuilding capacity in the world. Anduril, a global defense technology company, has developed a growing family of low-cost autonomous military systems and weapons that are all built on its Lattice software platform, which delivers AI-enabled sensor fusion, mission autonomy, distributed network management, and command and control for robotic systems.
Christian Brose, Chief Strategy Officer of Anduril Industries, added: “Together, our companies will define a new maritime arsenal of democracy—one that both restores naval capacity through modern shipbuilding and mass manufacturing practices, while also enhancing naval capability through cutting-edge mission autonomy, artificial intelligence, and software.”
“With the rise of autonomous naval systems as a significant component for future maritime defense, we expect to pioneer the market with our warship-building capacity and leading defense technology combined,” said Won-ho Joo, Chief Operating Officer of Naval & Special Ship Business Unit at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries.
Under this strategic partnership, HD Hyundai and Anduril will pursue collaborative efforts to design, develop, and produce new and different types of autonomous naval systems for the United States, the Republic of Korea, and their allies and partners. This is urgently needed. America’s traditional defense industrial base can no longer generate sufficient numbers of naval forces to maintain deterrence amid dangerous shifts in the global balance of military power, especially in the Indo-Pacific region. By bringing together HD Hyundai’s world-leading shipbuilding capabilities with Anduril’s proven ability to conceive and develop software-defined, AI-enabled military systems, this partnership will pursue new classes of low-cost, mass producible autonomous maritime systems that can support the United States, the Republic of Korea, and their allies and partners in bolstering global peace and security.
This partnership will also provide HD Hyundai, working through Anduril, greater access to the U.S. defense market, while providing Anduril, working through HD Hyundai, greater access to the Republic of Korea’s defense market. There is strong and growing demand in the United States for the world-leading shipbuilding expertise and modern manufacturing capabilities that HD Hyundai possesses. There is similarly strong and growing demand in the Republic of Korea for the software-defined, autonomous defense systems and weapons that Anduril is rapidly producing. Through their closer work together, HD Hyundai and Anduril can unlock the fuller value of both companies in both countries. Finally, this strategic partnership will facilitate greater technological collaboration between HD Hyundai and Anduril. The companies will explore deeper integration of Anduril’s Lattice software platform with current and future HD Hyundai products. The companies will also explore how HD Hyundai’s world-leading shipbuilding and manufacturing practices can support the large-scale production of Anduril’s current and future maritime systems.
