Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) and HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) announced the signing of a memorandum of agreement (MOA) on Oct. 26 during the 2025 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Gyeongju, South Korea. The agreement aims to strengthen cooperation between U.S. and South Korean shipbuilders on distributed shipbuilding, naval auxiliary vessels, and commercial ship programs.
The agreement was signed by Joo Won-ho, president of HD Hyundai’s Naval & Special Ship Business Unit, and Eric Chewning, HII’s executive vice president of maritime systems and corporate strategy.
“This marks the beginning of deeper collaboration between not only our companies, but each of our countries, that will support enduring changes to military and commercial shipbuilding in America,” said Chewning. “We look forward to working collaboratively with HHI, the U.S. and South Korean governments, and with our customers to transform the U.S. shipbuilding industrial base and enable accelerated throughput in our shipyards.”
The MOA builds on a memorandum of understanding signed in April, which outlined efforts to share best practices, improve cost efficiency, and shorten construction schedules. That earlier agreement also opened the door to expanding U.S. shipbuilding capacity to meet national security goals, the joint statement said.
Under the new agreement, HII and HHI will explore joint investments and industrial partnerships to expand distributed shipbuilding and modular construction in the United States. The companies will also pursue teaming opportunities for U.S. Navy auxiliary shipbuilding programs, drawing on HHI’s experience with fleet support vessels and HII’s domestic shipyard capacity.
The collaboration includes joint research and development on shipbuilding technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics, and automation. Both companies will also work to strengthen in-theater lifecycle support for U.S. Navy vessels operating in the Indo-Pacific.
Earlier this month, the two companies agreed to jointly pursue the U.S. Navy’s Next-Generation Logistics Ship (NGLS) concept design contract. The partnership combines HII’s experience with complex naval construction and HHI’s established auxiliary vessel designs currently in use with the Royal New Zealand and South Korean navies.
“Through joint participation in U.S. Navy procurement programs and investments aimed at establishing ship production bases in the United States, the two nations’ key industries are taking a major step toward deeper strategic collaboration,” said Joo. “We are confident that this partnership will generate powerful synergies by combining Korea’s advanced shipbuilding technologies with the U.S. defense sector’s strong market competitiveness.”
