On Sunday, October 26, 2025, Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) and South Korea’s HD Hyundai Heavy Industries signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) at the APEC 2025 forum held in Gyeongju, South Korea, to collaborate on distributed shipbuilding and pursue teaming on U.S. Navy auxiliary and commercial vessels.
The MOA builds on a prior memorandum of understanding signed in April 2025 that explored opportunities to accelerate ship production. The new agreement expands the partnership to include joint engineering, research and development, and technology implementation in areas such as AI/ML, robotics, and automation, as well as strengthening U.S. Navy Indo‑Pacific in‑theater ship lifecycle support.
Under the MOA, HII and HD Hyundai will jointly pursue the U.S. Navy’s next‑generation logistics ship (NGLS) design contract, responding to the Navy’s request for proposal issued on September 10, 2025. The companies will also explore joint investments in U.S. shipyards and the supply of block modules and key components from HD Hyundai to HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding and Ingalls Shipbuilding facilities.
The agreement was signed by HII’s executive vice president of maritime systems and corporate strategy, Eric Chewning, and HD Hyundai’s president of the Naval & Special Ship Business Unit, Joo Won‑ho. The signing took place at the Lahan Select Hotel in Gyeongju.
The partnership is expected to broaden HII’s commercial and defense shipbuilding capabilities, unlock new revenue from U.S. Navy contracts, and expand its presence in the global auxiliary ship market. By teaming with a leading Korean shipbuilder, HII can accelerate throughput, share best practices, and reduce construction schedules, aligning with its strategic goal of increasing shipbuilding capacity and improving cost efficiency.
The MOA represents a significant operational milestone and a major customer‑win‑type event for HII, marking a new chapter in its international collaboration and defense‑industry footprint. The partnership also aligns with broader initiatives such as the “Make American Shipbuilding Great Again” (MASGA) initiative, underscoring its strategic importance for both nations.
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