HD Hyundai chairman, Bill Gates to meet Friday to discuss SMR cooperation: sources

HD Hyundai Chairman Chung Ki-sun is set to meet with Bill Gates, co-founder and CEO of TerraPower, in Seoul this week to explore further collaboration in small modular reactors (SMRs), according to industry sources. This would be their first encounter in seven months since a prior meeting at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

HD Hyundai, South Korea's largest shipbuilding conglomerate, and TerraPower have been strengthening their ties in the SMR sector. HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co., the group's shipbuilding arm, had invested $30 million in TerraPower back in 2022. Since then, HD Hyundai has been involved in the construction of reactor components for TerraPower's 345-megawatt Natrium sodium-cooled fast reactor project in Wyoming, USA.

In March 2025, Chung and Gates signed an MOU to commercialize the Natrium reactor, followed by a Natrium Reactor Supply Framework Agreement in May, making HD Hyundai Heavy Industries a favored manufacturer of components for the Natrium Reactor Enclosure System.