LS Marine Solution, a subsidiary of LS Cable & System, has completed a major upgrade of its cable-laying vessel GL2030, significantly increasing its cable carrying capacity to strengthen its competitiveness in large-scale offshore wind and high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission projects.

The company announced on July 22 that it has increased the vessel's submarine cable carrying capacity from 4,000 metric tons to 7,000 metric tons.

The upgrade enables the GL2030 to install submarine cables over distances exceeding 100 kilometers in a single continuous operation, reducing the number of voyages required for a project and lowering both construction time and costs.

LS Marine Solution expects demand for submarine power and telecommunications cable installation to increase as South Korea expands offshore wind generation, advances the West Coast HVDC transmission project and invests in new international submarine communications networks.

The company plans to deploy the GL2030 primarily for coastal projects while assigning its 13,000-ton next-generation cable-laying vessel, currently under construction, to long-distance and large-capacity projects, further expanding its offshore construction capabilities.

"We will expand our participation in domestic power grid projects, including the West Coast HVDC Energy Highway, while strengthening our presence in the US and European markets," an LS Marine Solution official said.

Yujin Technology said on July 22 that it has been selected as the preferred bidder for the South Korean government's 2026 AI Transformation (AX) One-Stop Voucher Program, led by the Ministry of Science and ICT and the National IT Industry Promotion Agency (NIPA).

Yujin Technology will carry out the project through a consortium with Plan I and Gabia, developing a generative AI-based manufacturing platform for battery equipment.

The project will receive approximately 1.1 billion won in government funding during its first year. A second year of funding of a similar scale is expected following an evaluation of the first year's performance.

During the first phase, Yujin Technology plans to complete development of the AI platform and conduct proof-of-concept demonstrations. The second phase will focus on deployment in production environments and further enhancement of the platform's capabilities.

The company also plans to expand the platform beyond the battery industry into other manufacturing sectors, including semiconductors and precision machining.

"By establishing a generative AI-driven business innovation framework and a data-centric smart manufacturing system, we aim to improve both productivity and product quality," a Yujin Technology official said.

POSCO Group has opened an advanced manufacturing incubation center in Pohang, creating a new hub to support technology validation and commercialization for regional manufacturing startups.

The company announced on July 22 that it has opened the RIST Advanced Manufacturing Incubation Center at the Research Institute of Industrial Science & Technology (RIST). The facility was established jointly by POSCO Group, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, North Gyeongsang Province and the City of Pohang.

The two-story facility has a total floor area of 4,074 square meters and can accommodate up to 10 companies.

The center is designed to support startups developing advanced materials and energy and environmental technologies. It is equipped with demonstration infrastructure, including cooling water, compressed air and industrial gases such as hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen. RIST will provide testing and analysis services, reliability evaluation and process engineering support.

POSCO Group said it will leverage its venture investment, manufacturing and research capabilities to support resident companies throughout the commercialization process, including startup discovery, R&D, production scale-up, commercialization and market development. The Ministry of SMEs and Startups and North Gyeongsang Province will oversee operation of the center.

Four startups have already moved into the facility: Enforus, which develops high-temperature steam electrolysis technology for hydrogen production; Solarize, a manufacturer of photovoltaic inverters; Verycore Materials, which develops environmentally friendly coating materials; and EAFOS, which develops solvent extractants for battery manufacturing.

Kim Sang-kyun, chief executive officer of Hanjung NCS, has outlined his first management vision since taking office, pledging to strengthen the company's technology competitiveness and pursue profit-focused, accountable management.

Hanjung NCS announced on July 22 that Kim delivered a message to shareholders and employees outlining the company's mid- to long-term management strategy following its transition to a co-CEO structure on July 15.

Kim said the company will reinforce its existing businesses by leveraging its battery thermal management technologies while expanding new growth engines in energy storage systems (ESS), AI-based energy solutions and the North American market. He added that the company's North American expansion will be pursued with thorough preparation and disciplined risk management.

Kim also identified four core management principles: strengthening differentiated technological competitiveness, pursuing profitable growth, maintaining financial soundness and making decisions focused on enhancing shareholder value. The company said future investments and business expansion initiatives will be evaluated with profitability as the primary consideration.

"We will practice accountable management centered on technological competitiveness and profitability while enhancing corporate value," Kim said.

The company also noted that Kim recently purchased Hanjung NCS shares on the open market, underscoring his commitment to shareholder-aligned management.

Busduct installation at MAAC expands company's presence beyond AI data centers into EV battery manufacturing

LS Cable & System has supplied busduct power distribution systems to Hyundai Motor's battery manufacturing campus under construction in Anseong, expanding its power infrastructure business from AI data centers into the electric vehicle battery sector.

According to industry sources on July 22, LS Cable & System is responsible for the electrical infrastructure work at the Future Mobility Battery Anseong Campus (MAAC), which Hyundai Motor is building in the Fifth General Industrial Complex in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province. MAAC is Hyundai Motor's 1.2 trillion won battery research and pilot production facility. LS Cable & System has supplied power infrastructure, including busduct systems, to the site. Construction began in early 2025 and the project is understood to be more than 80% complete. The supply contract is estimated to be worth several hundred billion won.

This marks the first time that LS Cable & System's busduct supply for a Hyundai Motor battery facility has become publicly known. The company declined to comment on specific customers or supplied products. LS Cable & System already supplies enameled wire for traction motors used in Hyundai Motor and Kia electric vehicles, including the IONIQ 5 and EV6, making the latest project an expansion of its partnership in electric vehicle components.

Busduct is a high-capacity power distribution system consisting of copper or aluminum conductors enclosed within a prefabricated metal housing. Compared with conventional cable-based electrical installations, busduct systems are better suited for transmitting large electrical currents while reducing power losses and simplifying installation. Their use has expanded across power-intensive facilities such as semiconductor fabs, display plants, battery factories and AI data centers, although initial installation costs are generally higher than conventional cabling.

LS Cable & System and Taihan Cable & Solution are the leading domestic manufacturers of busduct systems. LS Cable & System developed South Korea's first busduct in 1984 and currently holds more than 50% of the domestic market. Its products have been installed at major industrial facilities, including Samsung Electronics' Pyeongtaek Campus and LG Display's Paju manufacturing complex.

The company manufactures a full lineup of busduct products ranging from low- to high-voltage systems and from small- to large-capacity configurations. Its products feature cold-resistant designs capable of operating at temperatures as low as minus 55 degrees Celsius as well as seismic resistance, allowing deployment in factories, high-rise buildings, wind power plants and ships.

Globally, LS Cable & System competes with companies including Schneider Electric, ABB, Eaton, Siemens and Mitsubishi Electric. The company has been expanding overseas orders by emphasizing shorter manufacturing and delivery times. While overseas competitors typically require more than a year—and sometimes as long as two years—from design through installation and commissioning, LS Cable & System says it can complete deliveries in approximately four to five months.

The company's fast delivery has proven particularly advantageous in the rapidly growing AI data center market, where minimizing construction schedules is critical. This year, LS Cable & System and its subsidiary Gaon Cable secured a series of busduct orders from global technology companies, including Amazon, Meta and Tesla. Their cumulative order backlog has exceeded 5 trillion won, including long-term supply agreements (LTAs). LS Cable & System expects revenue from its busduct business to more than double next year to approximately 2 trillion won.

Industry sources also said LS ELECTRIC is participating in the MAAC project. The company has previously supplied power equipment for Hyundai Motor's dedicated electric vehicle plant in Ulsan, Gwangju Global Motors (GGM), Hyundai Motor's Indonesia factory, Kia's Kazakhstan plant and Hyundai Mobis' motor and battery pack assembly lines. With Hyundai Motor planning to invest more than 9 trillion won in a future industrial cluster centered on AI, robotics and hydrogen energy in Saemangeum, industry observers expect additional opportunities for both LS ELECTRIC and LS Cable & System to supply power infrastructure.

MAAC is being constructed by Hyundai Engineering, with building work now in its final stages and completion targeted within the year. Hyundai Motor has traditionally conducted advanced battery research covering materials, cells and design at its Namyang and Uiwang research centers. MAAC will expand those capabilities to include battery cell development suitable for commercial vehicles and validation for mass production. The campus will incorporate the full battery manufacturing process, including electrode production, cell assembly and formation, using equipment supplied primarily by South Korean battery equipment manufacturers.

Hanwha Aerospace has completed a $500 million US dollar-denominated public bond offering, becoming the first South Korean defense and aerospace company to issue an overseas public bond.

The company announced on July 21 that it had finalized the issuance of $500 million in fixed-rate notes with a three-year maturity.

The bond offering attracted approximately $3.3 billion in orders from investors across Europe and Asia, representing demand of roughly seven times the issuance size.

In June 2026, S&P Global Ratings assigned Hanwha Aerospace a long-term issuer credit rating of A-, making it the first South Korean defense and aerospace company to receive an A-range long-term rating from the global credit rating agency.

Hanwha Aerospace said it plans to use the proceeds from the bond issuance for working capital and the repayment of existing debt.

The transaction was jointly arranged by Citigroup Global Markets, Crédit Agricole CIB, and UBS.

"We successfully completed our inaugural overseas public bond offering with strong interest from international investors," a Hanwha Aerospace official said. "Supported by a stable funding base, we will continue strengthening our competitiveness in global markets."

GI Tech has secured its first order for automated equipment that separates glass from end-of-life solar panels, marking its expansion into photovoltaic recycling equipment following its battery and display equipment businesses.

The company announced on July 21 that it had won a contract to manufacture a double-glass module separation system used to recycle bifacial glass solar panels.

The order represents the first outcome of a memorandum of understanding signed in April 2026 between GI Tech and Wongwang S&T to jointly advance solar panel recycling equipment and pursue global commercialization.

The system removes the front glass from bifacial solar panels before automatically separating the glass from the photovoltaic cell sheet.

Bifacial glass modules encapsulate solar cells between two glass panels. During recycling, minimizing damage to the embedded solar cells and metallic materials while removing the glass is a key technical challenge.

GI Tech said it designed the separation process to preserve the value of recoverable metals such as silver and copper contained within discarded solar panels. The company is applying precision control technologies developed through its battery and display equipment businesses to recycling equipment.

Solar panels typically require replacement after 20 to 30 years of operation. South Korea currently operates an extended producer responsibility (EPR) system under which solar module manufacturers and importers are responsible for collecting and recycling end-of-life panels.

As aging photovoltaic installations increase, demand is expected to grow for automated equipment capable of dismantling discarded solar panels and separating recyclable materials.

"We will continue expanding our recycling equipment business by applying our precision control technologies to end-of-life solar panel recycling processes," a GI Tech official said.

LG Electronics will halt production at its manufacturing plant in Huizhou, China, after October, bringing operations at the group's first manufacturing subsidiary in China to an end after 34 years.

According to industry sources on July 21, LG Electronics plans to cease operations on the production lines at LG Electronics Huizhou (LGEHZ) by the end of the year. The company has already informed local employees that manufacturing will stop after October.

The Huizhou facility has primarily produced speakers for LG Electronics' XBOOM audio brand. The company is understood to have decided to reorganize its manufacturing footprint as competition from Chinese manufacturers intensifies and its audio business shifts toward premium products.

LGEHZ was established in October 1993 as a joint venture among LG Electronics, LG Electronics China and TCL Group, becoming the LG Group's first manufacturing subsidiary in China. LG Electronics currently owns an 80% stake in the venture.

The Huizhou factory began operations in October 1994, producing home theater systems, Blu-ray DVD players, smart printers and beauty devices. More than 90% of its output was exported, primarily to North America, Latin America, Europe and Central Asia.

The plant has an annual audio production capacity of 2.6 million units and annual production value exceeding 2 billion yuan. Profitability has declined over the past three years, with net profit falling from 12.5 billion won in 2023 to 10.9 billion won in 2024 and 9.2 billion won in 2025.

"We plan to close the Huizhou plant this year and have already informed local employees that production will stop after October," a person involved in LG Electronics' China operations said.

The company has not yet finalized how it will handle the legal entity or the factory after production ends.

"Production at the Huizhou subsidiary is scheduled to stop by October this year," an LG Electronics spokesperson said. "We are reviewing various options for the future operation of the subsidiary and the factory."

Possible options include transferring production to LG Electronics' manufacturing base in Hai Phong, Vietnam, expanding contract manufacturing with Chinese partners, or liquidating the subsidiary.

LG Electronics previously liquidated its Kunshan manufacturing subsidiary in China in 2020, transferring automotive infotainment production to its Hai Phong plant. The Kunshan facility had produced automotive audio, video, navigation and telematics products.

LG Group operates the LG Hai Phong Campus in Vietnam, which houses manufacturing facilities for LG Electronics, LG Display and LG Innotek. Hai Phong has become one of the group's key overseas manufacturing hubs.

LG Electronics Vietnam Hai Phong (LGEVH) reported consolidated revenue of 5.97 trillion won in 2025, up 5.9% from 5.64 trillion won in 2024. Net profit increased 17.8% to 204.9 billion won from 173.9 billion won. LGEVH is the company's second-largest overseas manufacturing subsidiary by revenue, after its US subsidiary.

LG Electronics could also outsource production previously handled at Huizhou to Chinese manufacturers. The company already uses a joint development and manufacturing model for some entry-level refrigerators, washing machines and robot vacuum cleaners, with Chinese partners responsible for product development and manufacturing while LG Electronics oversees product planning and quality standards.

Depending on product positioning and target markets, the company could shift Huizhou production to external manufacturing partners.

Another possibility is the complete liquidation of the Huizhou subsidiary without relocating production. LG Electronics previously shut down and liquidated its Tianjin subsidiary, which manufactured kitchen appliance components, after the need to maintain local production diminished amid growing competition from lower-cost Chinese brands.

Industry sources said the closure reflects a manufacturing efficiency strategy rather than a retreat from the audio business.

LG Electronics has been expanding its premium audio lineup, particularly premium speakers and soundbars, while targeting annual audio business revenue in the trillions of won over the longer term. Market research firms forecast the global consumer audio market will grow from $58.1 billion in 2024 to $70.1 billion in 2029, driven in part by new product categories such as AI-powered speakers.

Hanwha has partnered with the Korea Development Bank (KDB) and the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund (KODIT) to provide financing support for facility investments by suppliers in the defense and shipbuilding industries.

The company announced on July 20 that it signed a memorandum of understanding on a shared-growth financing program with KDB and KODIT at KDB's headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul.

The program will support small and mid-sized suppliers of four Hanwha affiliates: Hanwha Aerospace, Hanwha Ocean, Hanwha Systems and Hanwha Engine.

Under the agreement, the Hanwha affiliates will contribute funds to KODIT and recommend eligible suppliers. KODIT will provide preferential credit guarantees to those companies, while KDB will extend facility investment loans backed by the guarantees.

The financing will enable participating suppliers to fund investments such as expanding production equipment and building new manufacturing facilities. Hanwha said it will identify suppliers requiring financial support and assist them throughout the financing process.

"We will identify suppliers that need facility investment and help them make full use of this financing program," said Kim Hee-cheul, chief executive officer of Hanwha Ocean.

Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) has agreed with Airbus Helicopters to expand cooperation on next-generation rotorcraft technologies.

KAI announced on July 20 that it signed a joint statement with Airbus Helicopters at the company's headquarters in Marignane, France, to strengthen collaboration in the rotorcraft business.

The two companies have worked together in the rotorcraft sector for nearly two decades, beginning with the development of the KUH-1 Surion in 2006. Their cooperation later expanded to the development of the Light Armed Helicopter (LAH) Miron, and they are currently collaborating on the Marine Attack Helicopter (MAH) program.

Under the new agreement, the companies will strengthen technical support and parts supply systems to ensure the stable operation of the Surion and Miron helicopter fleets. The initiative is intended to improve supply chain resilience, increase aircraft availability and enhance maintenance efficiency.

The partnership will also expand into next-generation rotorcraft technologies. KAI and Airbus Helicopters will jointly explore technology development and business opportunities related to manned-unmanned teaming (MUM-T) and unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) to address future battlefield requirements.

"Airbus Helicopters has been our key partner over the past 20 years in the development of the Surion and Miron helicopters," said Kim Jong-chul, chief executive officer of KAI. "We will further expand our cooperation in future technologies, including AI-based manned-unmanned teaming systems."