HYUNDAI WIA Corporation

HYUNDAI WIA is the only Korean firm building large calibre artillery, and that is the smallest of its businesses. Founded in Changwon in 1976 and folded into the Hyundai Motor Group, it makes the 155mm gun assemblies for the K9 self-propelled howitzer and the CN08 120mm smoothbore that arms the K2 Black Panther. Towed pieces run to the KH179 in 155mm and the KH178 in 105mm. A lightweight 105mm self-propelled howitzer shown from KADEX 2024 onward puts a KH178 barrel on a Kia K351 4x4, weighs about seven tonnes against seventeen for the previous vehicle, needs two crew, fits inside a CH-47 and reaches 18 km with rocket assisted rounds. Mortars run from a vehicle mounted 81mm system to heavier tube weapons. At sea the company supplies 76mm and 5-inch naval mounts, and it delivered the gun turret, controller, firing system and motor drive for CIWS-II, the domestic close-in weapon system unveiled in November 2025 for the KDDX destroyer and Chungnam class frigates. Newer work covers remote controlled weapon stations and an anti-drone defense system, plus landing gear, rotor control assemblies and cockpit structures for Korean aircraft programmes. Changwon has held the artillery plant since the beginning and the naval systems assembly hall sits on the same campus. That colocation matters.

Machine tools are the revenue leader. The catalogue runs past a hundred CNC machines, spanning turning centres and lathes, vertical and horizontal machining centres, five axis machines and vertical lathes, sold heavily into aerospace parts and electric vehicle production in North America. The mobility parts business is the second biggest automotive supplier in Korea, producing constant velocity joints and driveshafts, power transfer units, transfer cases, couplings, four wheel drive systems, turbochargers, engine blocks and electrified axles for Hyundai, Kia and Genesis. A separate thermal management system line supplies integrated cooling modules for electric vehicles, and a growing robotics unit builds industrial and logistics robots, unmanned parking robots and autonomous forklifts. Aerospace components and electric vehicle work now drive more of the machine tool order book than general engineering does.

The shape of the company is changing. In April 2026 HYUNDAI WIA confirmed it was reviewing the sale of its defense division to sibling company Hyundai Rotem, a move that would consolidate the group's ground weapons under one roof and leave WIA focused on thermal management, machine tools and robotics. Press estimates put the price between 370 and 880 billion won. The union objected, noting the defense unit's revenue had risen 86 percent, and the transaction had not closed as of the most recent reporting. Buyers evaluating artillery supply from Korea should confirm which entity holds the contract. The company is listed on the Korea Exchange, Hyundai Motor Company holds about 41 percent, and headcount runs near 2,900.