HYOSUNG TO DOUBLE TRANSFORMER OUTPUT TO CONQUER US MARKET
The US transformer-making unit of South Korea’s Hyosung Heavy eyes over 10% share of the US market within two years
By Woo-Sub Kim Mar 03, 2025
Hyosung HICO plant in Memphis, Tennessee (Courtesy of Hyosung HICO)
MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- South Korea’s major power system and machinery conglomerate Hyosung Heavy Industries Corp. plans to nearly double its annual transformer output in the US to over 250 units in two years, gearing up for a surge in transformer demand during the artificial intelligence boom.
Hyosung HICO Ltd., Hyosung Heavy Industries’ transformer-manufacturing operation in the US, plans to ramp up the annual transformer production capacity of its plant in Memphis, Tennessee, to more than 250 units – from the current 130 – before 2027. In the first phase, it will expand the capacity by 53.5% to 200 units by early 2026, and then over 250 in the following year, which would cost the company hundreds of billions of Korean won (hundreds of millions of US dollars) in total. After it completes the plant’s capacity expansion, Hyosung HICO is expected to command more than a 10% share in the US transformer market versus last year’s 6%, said Jason E. Neal, president of Hyosung HICO. Neal projects that Hyosung’s transformer sales and output in the US would beat those of the market’s current top two, Siemens and General Electric (GE), within two years to become the largest US transformer producer and seller. His confidence lies in the company’s huge five-year transformer order backlog, driven by strong replacement demand for aging power equipment and installation demand from AI-driven new data centers set to spring up across the US.
A 525-kV transformer in Hyosung HICO plant
TRANSFORMER DEMAND WILL REMAIN HIGH FOR A WHILE
A transformer is an essential part of an electrical system as it changes the voltage level of electricity produced by power plants for the efficient transmission of electrical energy. The cost to build each unit ranges from 6 billion to 20 billion won ($14 million). Hyosung HICO is the only US producer of 765-kilovolt (kV) transformers, which cost about 20 billion won per unit. The company has recently bagged an order to manufacture the ultra-high-voltage transformer from one of the top five US utility companies. Hyosung moved much faster than its competitors in making bold investments to develop ultra-high-voltage transformers while others hesitated, said Hyosung HICO president.
The company’s transformers are highly sought after by its customers in the US, where it has been supplying them to US utility companies since 1999. Hyosung is expected to win more transformer orders in the US.
Workers in Hyosung HICO's plant in Memphis, Tenn. The US government under President Donald Trump has decided to simultaneously build more liquefied natural gas (LNG), renewable energy and nuclear power plants to cope with mounting electricity demand from data centers powering AI. Transformers are required to run power plants and data centers. Further, over 70% of the US electricity grids are more than 25 years old, meaning that the demand to replace old transformers with new ones is set to increase further in the next decade. Encouraged by the rosy outlook, Hyosung's cross-town rival HD Hyundai Electric Co. also announced a plan earlier this year to invest about half of its 2024 operating profit, estimated at 720 billion won, to bump up its transformer output at its US plant in Alabama to 150 units a year from the current 100.
NO TARIFFS
Hyosung is poised to win more transformer orders in the US without worrying about tariffs thanks to its transformer plant in Tennessee. 
Hyosung's ultra-high-voltage transformer. Hyosung acquired the Memphis plant from Japan’s Mitsubishi Electric Power Products for $45 million in 2020 to avoid heavy tariffs the first Trump administration threatened to impose on imports. The brave investment has proved to be a stroke of genius.
Driven by the increasing price of transformers on their high demand, Hyosung Heavy Industries’ operating profit hit its historic high of 362.5 billion won in 2024, and this year’s profit is forecast to exceed 500 billion won, according to market analysts. Its operating profit in 2020 stood at 44.1 billion won. Backed by the strong demand for transformers, Hyosung plans to transform its Memphis plant into a place where it can produce not only transformers but also other power equipment such as industrial circuit breakers and static synchronous compensators (statcom) to beef up profitability, the company said.
Mirae Asset rises to 12th-largest ETF manager with $141 billion in assets
Its growth in Asia is noteworthy, with its Indian unit expanding the fastest among its global affiliates
South Korea’s leading asset manager Mirae Asset Financial Group has emerged as the world’s 12th-largest exchange-traded fund (ETF) manager with over 200 trillion won ($141 billion) in net asset value (NAV). According to Mirae Asset Securities Co.'s overseas asset management affiliate Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. on Wednesday, the group operates 624 ETFs managing $141 billion across 13 countries as of the end of November. Mirae Asset doubled its ETF assets in just three years. In 2021, it managed 100 trillion won in NAV globally. The company attributed its rapid growth to its aggressive mergers and acquisitions strategy, through which it has established a broad global network.
Mirae Asset entered the ETF market in 2006 under the leadership of Chairman Park Hyeon Joo, launching ETF products under the TIGER brand in Korea. As of the end of November, TIGER ETFs held a 36% market share in the domestic ETF market.
Park, founder and chairman of the group, assumed the group’s global investment and strategy officer (GISO) role in 2018 to lead Mirae Asset’s global expansion.
AGGRESSIVE M&As
Park has pushed the investment firm’s global expansion through M&As. Under his leadership, Mirae Asset Global Investments acquired Canada’s Horizons ETFs in 2011, which was rebranded as Global X Investments Canada Inc.
Global X Canada has become the fourth-largest ETF manager in the country, with a focus on income-generating ETFs that periodically pay out cash. In 2018, the company acquired the US-based Global X ETFs for $488 million. Global X ETFs, known for its strength in thematic ETFs, has seen a fivefold rise in assets under management since then.
Mirae Asset also bought Sydney-based ETF Securities, which accounts for 4% of Australia’s ETF market, for 120 billion won ($95.2 million) and later rebranded it as Global X ETFs Australia.
Last year, Mirae Asset bought the UK’s leading ETF manager Goldenberg Hehmeyer LLP (GHCO) for $35 million to step up its ETF services in Europe, the world’s second-largest after the US.
RAPID GROWTH IN INDIA
Mirae Asset's growth in Asia is noteworthy. It established Mirae Asset Global Investments’ first global affiliate in Hong Kong in December 2003. In 2011, it became the first Korean asset management firm to list an ETF on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Mirae Asset has also established Global X Japan, a joint venture with Daiwa Securities, in 2019.
Mirae Asset’s Indian subsidiary is one of its fastest-growing affiliates worldwide. Mirae Asset Securities established its India operations in 2018 – Korea’s first brokerage to do so in the country.
Mirae Asset shines in US ETF market
It has been five years since Mirae Asset Global Investments acquired Global X, its subsidiary managing ETFs in the U.S. Global X, which is a rising star in the U.S. market, has grown into a leader in the thematic growth ETF market, operating assets around six times bigger compared to when it was acquired by Mirae Asset.
In February 2018, Mirae Asset Global Investments acquired Global X for $488 million (520 billion won). The aim was to expand Mirae Asset's global ETF network by challenging the U.S. market, which takes up more than 70 percent of the global ETF market.
Mirae Asset Global Investments focused especially on the growth potential of Global X at the time of the acquisition. It determined that Global X, equipped with an innovative and differentiated product lineup under the catchphrase "Beyond Ordinary ETFs," had enough momentum for growth.
"We decided to invest in Global X as it is a company with a competitive edge, just like Mirae Asset 15 years ago," Mirae Asset Financial Group Chairman Park Hyun-joo said back then. He added that the deal became the cornerstone of Mirae Asset's global business plan.
Mirae Asset has shared its know-how with Global X, from product development to research and operations. The current status of Global X in the U.S. market is as high as it can be ― its assets under management (AUM) stand at 45 trillion won ― as of the end of last year, which is up six times more than what it had at the time of the acquisition. Its compound annual growth rate (CAGR) has been at 29.13 percent for the past five years, which compares favorably with the industry average of just 14.5 percent. The number of its ETS products also increased to 100 from 49, which became the foundation for the stable growth of AUM.
Now, Global X is leading the thematic growth ETF market in the U.S. It concentrated on searching for innovative themes in the ETF market, which had mostly been dominated by passive products such as ones based on market indices, and launched products comprising companies with high growth potentials. It also strengthened research ― with its own research team. Global X has been offering solutions based on products and industry information. It thereby took the initiative in the fast-changing U.S. market. It also satisfies the diverse needs of investors with a broad lineup of products other than thematic ETFs.
Global X is especially competitive in covered call ETFs. Its Nasdaq 100 Covered Call ETF achieved 8 trillion won in AUM last year, becoming one of the most popular products among Koreans investing in the U.S. market and paying back with a high dividend.
Last June, Mirae Asset Global Investments and Global X jointly acquired ETF Securities, an Australian ETF management firm. It is the first time for a local asset management firm to acquire an ETF management firm overseas with the money it earned abroad.
Mirae Asset plans to expand its global business, due to the synergy effect with Global X. It thus changed the names of ETF Securities to Global X Australia, and Mirae Asset Global Investments Brazil to Global X Brazil, as a way to enhance the brand value of Global X. It plans to diversify its business and expand to Southeast Asia and the Middle East, strengthening its foothold as a global financial group.
"The U.S. market is essential for any ETF management company to grow into a global player as it leads the ETF industry. We will concentrate our efforts to make a leap forward as a global player, maximizing synergy effects with Global X, which is expanding its presence in the U.S. market," a spokesperson for Mirae Asset Global Investments said.
Mirae Asset Securities acquires GHCO in $40m deal
Korean securities company enters European market
Mirae Asset Securities has acquired market maker GHCO for $40m as the group continues to expand its global ETF business.
The deal, which completed on 6 December, is the first purchase made by the securities arms of Mirae Asset Global Investments outside of the Asian market and is the firm’s first entry into Europe.
Speaking to ETF Stream, Daniel Izzo, CEO of GHCO, said the deal will give his firm the scale to compete directly with the two largest market makers in Europe, Jane Street and Flow Traders.
“The barriers to entry are exceedingly high in Europe and it takes scale to make a legitimate competitive effort. That is what this transaction gives us; the capability, scope and scale to get to the next level and pose as a legitimate competitor.”
GHCO, launched in 2005, will be incorporated as a subsidiary of Mirae Asset Securities in the first half of 2023, subject to regulatory approval.
Izzo (pictured), who has long been a proponent of shifting ETF trading volumes away from request for quote platforms and onto exchanges, will remain as CEO following the acquisition.
Meanwhile, GHCO’s head of trading and managing partner Stefan Kaba-Ferreiro is leaving to establish his own crypto business.
In a LinkedIn post, Kaba-Ferreiro wrote: “I will be completing my handover in London over the next couple of months and taking some time to recharge as the last few years in markets have been relentless.
“My partner and friend Dan is continuing on as CEO with new investors...as well as the rest of the excellent team.” In August, Mirae Asset Securities took its first steps in the European market with the appointment of
former Tradeweb director of ETF sales Alex Gladkow.
Gladkow joined the business as an “ETF ambassador” in Europe, responsible for enhancing the strategic direction of the firm as a trusted partner in the European ETF space.
The latest acquisition is a sign the group is looking to expand its ETF capabilities beyond asset management.
Mirae is currently represented in the European ETF market by Global X, which it acquired in 2018, with the firm embarking on a rapid expansion of its European ETF range this year.
Izzo added GHCO will continue to operate as an independent firm to avoid “conflicts of interest” with other ETF issuers.
In June, Mirae Asset Global Investments and Global X acquired ETF Securities Australia, which housed
roughly A$4.7bn assets under management (AUM) at the time of purchase.
The firm currently runs ETFs in the US, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Europe, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea and Vietnam.
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