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| Hyosung Chairman Cho Hyun-joon, right, and Tennessee Senator Bill Hagerty greet each other at the company's Memphis plant. Courtesy of Hyosung Group |
By Kim Hyun-bin
Hyosung Group Chairman Cho Hyun-joon is preparing for the post-COVID-19 world by focusing on the U.S. market for future growth.
The chairman recently visited Hyosung Heavy Industries' extra high-voltage plant in Memphis, Tennessee, and Hyosung TNS's U.S. corporate body in Dallas, Texas, the company said Monday.
"The visits to the key businesses were made to come up with better strategies for the U.S. market," the company said.
To gain traction in the new businesses, the company believes it is imperative to first gain recognition for its technology and quality in the U.S., ahead of its competitors.
Recently, U.S. President Joe Biden announced a $1.2 trillion investment plan in the country's energy grid and renewable energy infrastructure.
"The U.S. market is key to the rapidly changing post-COVID world," Cho said. "We need to enhance our grip on the market by strengthening our localization strategy and customer-focused measures."
In Early September, Cho visited Hyosung Heavy Industries' extra high-voltage plant in Memphis to check on the company's local market strategy, trends and outlook.
The chairman met Tennessee Senator Bill Hagerty to seek enhanced cooperation, and discussed ways to vitalize the local economy, while inspecting the company's production line.
"We will foster heavy industry technicians and strengthen partnerships with local power companies to not only enhance the power infrastructure for the Tennessee region, but also at the federal level," Cho said.
Hagerty responded by vowing to provide wholehearted support for the growth and expansion of Hyosung's Memphis plant.
The plant will complete an expansion at the end of the year, which will boost production to 60 high voltage transformers annually and generate an expected $100 million in sales.
Hyosung plans to utilize the Memphis plant as an advance base for the U.S. market's heavy industry sector, not only to better meet power infrastructure replacement demand, but also to target the renewable energy market there.
Targeting US financial market
Last week, the chairman visited Hyosung TNS's U.S. corporate body, Hyosung America, to inspect NHA exhibition products as well as brainstorm a future market strategy.
Hyosung TNS entered the U.S. market in the mid-2000s and has become the leading company in the small ATM market, gaining a 73 percent share.
Cho met up with local financial and IT experts and requested the development of innovative technologies for the swiftly changing financial market in which the U.S. is rapidly transitioning towards digitization.
Hyosung TNS said it plans to boost cooperation with U.S. financial institutions and is also developing kiosks and software platforms for cryptocurrency exchanges.
Electric, hydrogen vehicle components
Hyosung also aims to strengthen its product line-up in the U.S. automobile market that has been showing strong signs of a recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Industry watchers believe electric vehicles (EV) will account for up to 50 percent of the U.S. automobile market by 2030 and expect the EV and hydrogen vehicle component market to show rapid growth as well.
The company aims to boost supplies of hydrogen vehicle tire cords and high-tech EV materials.
