Hyundai Heavy Industries Goes All-In for Big Data With Palantir

Hyundai Heavy Industries' holding company KSOE has decided to go all the way with an enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform-of-platforms, Palantir Foundry. Palantir's commercial product is designed to take all data from company sources, all analytical / AI modeling from company analysts, all input from company end-users, and integrate it into one platform for business decisionmaking. 

The Foundry rollout started at construction-equipment subsidiary Hyundai Doosan Infracore, which uses Palantir's software in its supply chain and sales operations. It is also in use at refining subsidiary Hyundai Oilbank, in which Palantir purchased a $20 million stake in December 2021. Last week, KSOE announced that it has signed a $20 million agreement to hire Palantir to cover all of its shipbuilders - Hyundai Heavy Industries, Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries and Hyundai Mipo Dockyard.

"We will change the way we work by working with Palantir Technologies,” said Taejin Lee, CDO of HHI Group. “We aim to enhance the competitiveness of our group by setting up an environment where we can make data-based decisions.”

A pilot phase for the shipyard rollout began in January. HHI said that shipbuilding teams in the pilot used Foundry to improve the design of ships, ensure quality on production lines, and improve safety procedures.

“We could not be more enthusiastic about expanding our partnership and are actively working to extend access to our software across Hyundai Heavy’s operations, as well as the country’s [South Korea's] commercial and government sectors," said Alexander Karp, the co-founder and CEO of Palantir. 

Palantir is known in tech circles for its U.S. government contracts - it has deep roots in defense and intelligence - and for its refusal to do business in China. “I’m very proud that Palantir is sticking to working with America and America’s interests," Karp said in a 2020 interview.