Taewoong

Founded in 1981 in Busan, Taewoong is a specialized freeform forging company, regarded alongside Hyundai IFC as one of Korea's two major forging firms.

Its business consists of two segments: a forging business that supplies large, non-standard, order-based products that cannot use molds, and a steelmaking business that produces ingots and round blooms via electric and refining furnaces, supplying both its own forging division and external customers.

Since establishing its steelmaking division in 2016, the company has built a vertically integrated 'steelmaking-forging-machining' chain, a key differentiator for raw material supply stability and cost competitiveness.

Its main end markets span offshore wind (main shafts, flanges), nuclear power (reactor components, SMR, spent-fuel cask), shipbuilding (marine engine parts, propeller shafts), plants (petrochemical, cement), and industrial machinery.

Offshore wind still accounts for a substantial share of revenue, but the nuclear and power-generation segment has reportedly been expanding rapidly.

Key customers include Ontario Power Generation's Darlington SMR project in Canada, Czech cask supplier Skoda JS, and Holtec International in the US, while in Europe the company supplies flanges to the UK's Norfolk Vanguard offshore wind farm.

Taewoong holds large-scale equipment including one of the world's largest two-column freeform forging presses (15,000-ton class), giving it a competitive edge in producing ultra-large, non-standard forgings.

In the global forging market, discussion of excluding Chinese suppliers from ultra-large offshore wind and SMR-related components has highlighted the relative standing of verified Western-aligned suppliers such as Taewoong.

Taewoong's annual results have shown pronounced swings since 2022. After bottoming in 2022 with revenue of KRW 393.87bn and operating profit of KRW 2.93bn (0.7% margin), the company achieved a clear recovery in 2023 with revenue of KRW 443.76bn and operating profit of KRW 39.53bn (8.9% margin).

However, 2024 revenue fell to KRW 386.32bn with operating profit down to KRW 22.82bn (5.9% margin), and 2025 saw another sharp contraction to revenue of KRW 349.65bn (-9.5%) and operating profit of KRW 5.02bn (-78.0%, 1.4% margin). Owner net income for 2025 fell sharply to KRW 5.41bn from KRW 24.69bn a year earlier.

On a quarterly basis, operating profit dropped from KRW 4.75bn in Q2 2025 to KRW 0.70bn in Q3, and the company swung to an operating loss of KRW -1.37bn (net loss of KRW -0.38bn) in Q4 2025 despite revenue of KRW 90.55bn.

This was followed by two consecutive quarters of operating profit in 2026 — KRW 2.79bn in Q1 and KRW 3.20bn in Q2, the latter on record revenue of KRW 105.49bn among the recent five quarters.

Notably, in both Q1 and Q2 2026, owner net income (KRW 4.25bn and KRW 4.28bn respectively) exceeded operating profit, suggesting non-operating factors contributed positively to net income.

Over the most recent four-quarter window (Q3 2025 through Q2 2026), cumulative owner net income totaled KRW 10.15bn, indicating the Q4 2025 loss was offset by the recovery seen in the first half of 2026.

The offshore wind forging market is seeing rising demand for ultra-large components such as main shafts and flanges as turbines grow larger, though orders slowed in recent years amid rising interest rates and project delays.

GL Research assessed that new project pursuits are resuming as countries work toward their 2030 national decarbonization targets (NDC).

In the nuclear segment, small modular reactors (SMRs) are emerging as a new growth axis, with iM Securities forecasting the global SMR market to grow from a cumulative 0.9GW by 2030 to 404GW by 2050, a 16.9% compound annual growth rate.

The cask market for spent nuclear fuel storage and transport is also reportedly expanding as US data-center-driven power demand raises nuclear plant utilization rates.

Competitively, Hyundai IFC remains Taewoong's main domestic rival among the two major forging firms, while globally only a limited number of companies possess the capability for ultra-large, non-standard forgings, forming a natural barrier to entry.

NH Investment & Securities noted that conditions are emerging in which Chinese suppliers are likely to be excluded from US SMR projects, which could be interpreted as relatively favorable for Taewoong as part of a verified Western-aligned supply chain.

That said, offshore wind remains exposed to cyclical variables such as project start timing and delivery schedule shifts.

The company recently completed hot-run testing of a large 11,500-pi ring rolling mill built with a KRW 45bn investment, described as next-generation equipment capable of expanding production to both ultra-large offshore wind tower flanges and SMR-related core components.

Flange supply for the UK's Norfolk Vanguard offshore wind farm (reportedly covering around 92 towers) is understood to have begun being recognized as revenue from Q2 2026, and additional order expectations are being discussed in Europe as national carbon-neutrality construction deadlines approach.

In the nuclear segment, Taewoong has already supplied auxiliary forged components for Unit 1 of Canada's Darlington SMR demonstration reactor, with potential follow-on orders as Ontario Power Generation proceeds with its planned four-unit build targeting 2030 operation.

Cask supply to Czech customer Skoda JS was initially set at two units, with a stated goal of expanding to five units going forward.

NH Investment & Securities noted that as the power-generation segment's revenue share expands, additional order pipelines toward Japan and Eastern Europe are progressing along with discussions with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) on gas turbine rotor shaft forgings, whose development completion target was reportedly moved up to 2027.

That said, such order and revenue-recognition schedules can shift depending on project progress, warranting confirmation through future disclosures and quarterly results.