HHI Brings In a Leading "Big Data" Consultancy to Organize Operations

Hyundai Heavy Industries Group, the second-largest shipbuilder in the world, has decided to jump into big data by bringing in Palantir, a blue-chip public company with a long history of providing solutions to the U.S. government. The firms will build a "big data" system for HHI’s core businesses, including shipbuilding and offshore engineering, based on Palantir's Foundry platform - and in the long-term, they intend to market their solution to other users. 

Under the agreement, HHI Group and Palantir will jointly build a big data platform for the group’s affiliates in shipbuilding, offshore engineering, energy, and industrial machinery. Subsidiary Hyundai Doosan Infracore already uses Palantir's software in its supply chain and sales operations, and the new initiative will create a new platform for the larger group. 

This includes HHI, the shipyard at the core of HHI Group's diversified business, which will use Palantir's technology for tasks traditionally handled by ERP database systems. HHI envisions "all processes from design to production . . . connected in real time to build a shipyard that enables smart work management where Palantir’s Foundry data platform is applied."

Other HHI Group entities will also use Foundry, including Hyundai Oilbank, which will work with Palantir to implement the system at its refinery in Daesan - integrating more than 100 production management systems into one. 

“HHI Group shaped one of the most significant industries of the twentieth century and is absolutely vital to the lives we lead,” said Alex Karp, co-founder and CEO of Palantir Technologies. “We are deeply grateful for the opportunity to partner with a company that is not only a leader among the world’s industrial giants but one whose continued growth and success are critical to our collective welfare and security.”

Palantir is known in tech circles for its U.S. government contracts and for its refusal to do business in China. It departed California for Denver in 2020, citing an uncomfortable fit between its culture and the ethos of Silicon Valley. 

“Any company - and there are thousands of companies that work with the [Pentagon] and that work with [U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement], and that work with others - is going to face these challenges,” Karp said in a 2020 interview. “I’m very proud that Palantir is sticking to working with America and America’s interests.”