[비즈한국] Hanwha Ocean042660 is garnering attention as it hits a string of major positive developments both at home and abroad. Following U.S. President Donald Trump's direct mention of Hanwha Ocean and his move to formalize cooperation with the U.S. Navy, the Korea Destroyer Next-Generation (KDDX) project—the nation's largest defense contract—has been shifted to a competitive bidding process, opening up a multi-trillion won opportunity. Added to this is the news of winning a 2 trillion won offshore wind power project, pushing Hanwha Ocean's stock price on an upward trajectory.
President Trump: "Hanwha is a very good company"... Formalizing U.S. Navy Cooperation
The biggest driver behind the sudden surge in Hanwha Ocean's stock price is President Donald Trump's direct mention of the company. During a press conference held at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on the 22nd (local time), President Trump announced plans to build new frigates for the U.S. Navy and specifically stated, "We will be working with a very good company from Korea called Hanwha." It is considered highly unusual for a U.S. President to publicly praise a specific Korean company and identify it as a partner for military cooperation.
This cooperation is a core pillar of the 'Golden Fleet' initiative promoted by the Trump administration. The Golden Fleet is a strategy to reorganize naval power using large destroyers equipped with hypersonic missiles supported by smaller frigates. President Trump emphasized that these warships are "needed right now" and announced that Hanwha has agreed to invest $5 billion (approximately 7.4183 trillion won) in the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. This is interpreted as a clear intent to maximize local shipbuilding capabilities in the U.S., using the Philly Shipyard—which Hanwha Group acquired last year—as a base. The shipyard is expected to become a forward base for South Korea-U.S. shipbuilding cooperation under the slogan 'MASGA (Make American Shipbuilding Great Again).'
KDDX 'Competitive Bidding' Shift Worth 8 Trillion Won and 2.6 Trillion Won Offshore Wind Contract
The domestic defense market has also shifted in favor of Hanwha Ocean. On the 22nd, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration finalized its decision to use 'nominated competitive bidding' to select a contractor for the detailed design and construction of the lead ship for the KDDX project. The KDDX project is a massive undertaking to build Korea's first independent Aegis destroyer, with an investment of approximately 7.8 trillion won by 2036.
While it had been customary to award no-bid contracts to the company that performed the basic design, a scandal involving military secret leaks by employees of HD Hyundai Heavy Industries329180, which carried out the basic design, became a major variable. Allegations that they illegally obtained conceptual design data from the former Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (now Hanwha Ocean) sparked controversy over fairness, ultimately leading to the decision for competitive bidding. Consequently, Hanwha Ocean, which performed the conceptual design, now faces a decisive opportunity to win the contract through the competitive process.
Hanwha Ocean's growth is not limited to the defense sector. On the 22nd, the company secured a major achievement in the eco-friendly energy market by signing an EPC (Engineering, Procurement, and Construction) contract for the 390MW 'Sinan Ui Offshore Wind Power Project' located in the waters southeast of Uido, Sinan-gun, Jeollanam-do. Of the total contract value of 2.64 trillion won, Hanwha Ocean's share amounts to approximately 1.9716 trillion won.
For this project, Hanwha Ocean plans to directly build and deploy a 'WTIV (Wind Turbine Installation Vessel)' capable of installing 15MW large-scale turbines, a first in South Korea. Through its 'Energy Plant Business Division' established in November, Hanwha Ocean is fostering its offshore wind power business as a future growth engine in line with the global carbon-neutral trend.
Philippe Levy, President of Hanwha Ocean's Energy Plant Business Division, stated, "The Sinan Ui offshore wind EPC contract is an important turning point for Hanwha Ocean to expand its business scope beyond shipbuilding and offshore into the eco-friendly energy infrastructure sector," adding, "Based on our EPCIO capabilities covering everything from design and construction to installation and operations, we will contribute substantially to revitalizing the domestic offshore wind industry ecosystem and realizing carbon neutrality."
Meanwhile, thanks to this 'triple jackpot,' Hanwha Ocean's stock is surging. As of 13:06 on the 23rd, the stock price reached 121,900 won, an increase of 12,200 won (11.12%) compared to the previous day.