HD Hyundai drives Korea’s shipbuilding future with digital twins, autonomy, AI robots in Shipbuilding News 27/04/2026 HD Hyundai is accelerating efforts to secure future growth engines by using digital technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and robots. Chairman Chung Ki-sun of HD Hyundai is translating the core theme he presented in this year’s New Year’s address, “securing differentiated technology,” into digital innovation across shipbuilding, shipping and robotics. ◇ Speeding up the buildout of future advanced shipyards HD Hyundai is pushing to build the Future of Shipyard (FOS) as a core growth engine to lead a paradigm shift in the shipbuilding industry. The FOS project, set for completion in 2030, focuses on boosting productivity and efficiency by applying advanced technologies such as Digital Twin, AI and big data across the shipyard. HD Hyundai built the first phase, a “visible shipyard,” in 2023 and is now working on phase two, a “consolidation, predictive, and optimized shipyard,” in which equipment, processes and data are organically linked. Once FOS is complete, HD Hyundai expects productivity to rise 30% and shipbuilding lead times to be cut by 30%. HD Hyundai is collaborating with Nvidia and Siemens to apply and test a latest Blackwell graphics processing unit (GPU)-based Digital Twin at the HD Hyundai Samho shipyard. Since 2021, it has pursued building a “next-generation production and design platform” that consolidates the entire ship design and production process with data and optimizes it with AI. Through next-generation CAD, PLM and DM systems, the company will establish an integrated management framework for the entire life cycle of ships—from design and production to operation and decommissioning—and complete the platform by 2028. At CES 2026 in Las Vegas in Jan., Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang cited HD Hyundai as a representative Digital Twin collaboration case during a conversation with Siemens CEO Roland Busch. Huang said HD Hyundai’s Digital Twin technology is “a case that integrates not only CAD but also computing and electronic systems to implement them within a single Digital Twin environment.” ◇ Targeting the future shipping market with autonomous navigation technology HD Hyundai is moving to commercialize autonomous navigation and is targeting the shipping market. Avikus, HD Hyundai’s autonomous navigation subsidiary, signed a supply contract in Dec. last year with HMM for the large-vessel autonomous navigation solution “HiNAS Control.” Under the deal, the solution will be applied to 40 ships operated by HMM. To date, Avikus has supplied autonomous navigation solutions to about 350 vessels and has applied HiNAS Control to more than 100 large retrofitted vessels. HiNAS Control is an autonomous navigation system that performs control functions as well as perception and decision-making. In Apr. this year, it obtained type approval (TA) for HiNAS Control from DNV. This marks the first time a mass-producible autonomous navigation system, applicable generically rather than limited to a specific vessel or project, has received international certification. As a result, HiNAS Control can now be installed without additional verification. ◇ Applying physical AI to robotics… developing humanoids HD Hyundai Robotics, a group affiliate in robotics, is developing next-generation core technologies by applying AI to industrial robots. It is focusing on advancing physical AI-based technologies beyond existing industrial