Accelerated expansion in the global defence sector and major advancements in the renewable energy sector have landed Hanwha Group in the TIME list of 100 most influential companies, making it the only Korean company to do so.
The company’s market value exceeded $7.8 billion in 2023, and it attributed the figure to its increased exports, especially in the defence sector, led by its subsidiary Hanwha Aerospace.
The company recorded sales of 1.8483 trillion won and an operating profit of 37.4 billion won on a consolidated basis in the first quarter of the year. The company expects an increase in annual sales and operating profit in the defence industry for the current year, boosted by its deal to export K9 self-propelled thunder howitzers and Chunmoo multiple launch rocket systems to Poland.
Since April 2018, Hanwha Aerospace (former Hanwha Techwin) has been divided into sir subsidiaries — Hanwha Land Systems, Hanwha Power Systems, Hanwha Precision Machinery, Hanwha Systems, Hanwha Defense and Hanwha Techwin (former Security division). The company recently announced it would merge chip equipment maker Hanwha Precision Machinery and surveillance camera maker Hanwha Vision, into a single industrial solutions company.
“This will help us overcome the valuation discount due to the mixture of defence business and Hanwha Vision, Hanwha Precision Machinery. Hanwha Precision’s high-growth chip equipment business can expand with solid cash flow from Hanwha Vision,” including developing equipment used to make high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips used in artificial intelligence (AI) chipsets, it said.
In addition, Hanwha Group has made significant strides in renewable energy projects, including its acquisition of Hanwha Ocean, a global shipbuilder, last year. Its subsidiary, Hanwha Shipping, started using green ship technology (procedures that reduce emissions and consume less energy) to test a carbon-free vessel last month.
Hanwha Solutions, an energy and chemical company, injected 3.2 trillion won ($2.3 billion) to establish a solar hub in the US state of Georgia, aiming to become a central player in the solar industry powered by its production capacity of solar modules ranging up to 8.4 gigawatts.
