Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) and HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) have entered a partnership to boost US shipbuilding and expand collaboration across military and commercial sectors.
Signed during APEC 2025 in Gyeongju, the agreement focuses on distributed manufacturing, shared investment, and joint development of naval support ships.
The companies plan to combine HII’s experience in naval ship construction with HHI’s large-vessel production expertise to pursue auxiliary ship programs for the US Navy.
Their cooperation also spans R&D in automation, AI, robotics, and machine learning for shipyard modernization.
Further, the partnership includes lifecycle maintenance support for Indo-Pacific operations. It follows earlier initiatives like their joint bid for the Navy’s Next-Generation Logistics Ship (NGLS) project and a prior MOU to enhance efficiency and reduce costs. HHI has also offered to construct Aegis destroyers for US forces.
