Hanwha Group

1952–1999

Kim Chong-hee founded Korea Explosives Co. in October 1952. Prior to founding the company, Kim worked as a gunpowder engineer for the "Chosun Explosives Factory", a Japanese company. Later, he won the bid for the company and its Incheon factory and started the company there.

From 1952 to 1963, the Korea Explosives Co. produced industrial explosives domestically, which was needed for construction and engineering of infrastructure. In the same time period, the Korea Explosives Co. started producing nitroglycerin, which gave it a monopoly in the field of explosives and gunpowder. In 1959, the Hanwha group started producing domestic dynamite.

From 1964 to 1980 the Hanwha group started to make investments in various fields, starting the foundation of it becoming a chaebol. Later in the mid-1960s, Korea Hwasung industrial Co. was founded (now Hanwha Solutions), and entered the petrochemical market. Hanwha increased its competitiveness in the machinery market by acquiring Shinhan Bearing Industrial. Hanwha founded Kyung-in Energy in 1969, and the Hankook Precision Tools (now Hanwha Corporation/Momentum) followed suit, being founded in 1971.

From 1981 to 1995, Kim Seung-youn became the second chairman of the company, and more investments in diverse markets were initiated. It expanded further into the chemical industry by acquiring both Hanyang Chemicals (now also Hanwha Solutions) and Dow Chemicals Korea in 1982, expanded into the resorts industry by acquiring the Junga group (now Hanwha Hotels & Resorts) in 1985, and expanded into the leisure and distribution industry by acquiring Hanyang Stores (now Hanwha Galleria) in 1986. In the 1990s, the Hanwha Group founded Hanwha BASF Urethane, Hanwha NSK Precision, Hanwha GKN, Hanwha Machinery Hub Eye Bearings, SKF Hanwha Auto Parts, and Hanwha Motors. In 1992, the Korea Explosives Co. changed its name to Hanwha, and Binggrae was separated and made independent from the company.

2000 to present

In 2002, Hanwha expanded into the life insurance industry by acquiring Korea Life Insurance. From 2007–present, Hanwha is undergoing global expansion. Hanwha acquired Azdel, an American company in 2007 and established a PVC plant in Ningbo, Zhejiang, China in 2011. Hanwha Q CELLS was launched in 2012. In 2014, Hanwha acquired Samsung Techwin, Samsung Thales, and Samsung Total. Since 2019, Hanwha is operating the largest solar module plant (1.7 GW) in the United States; It is located in Dalton, Georgia. As of 2019, Hanwha has a total of 466 affiliates, 84 being domestic and 382 overseas. Hanwha completed its take over of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME), renaming it Hanwha Ocean in 2023.

In April 2026, Hanwha Group rose to fifth place among Korea’s business conglomerates.

Controversy

In 2011, Kim Seung-yeon, the current chairman of the Hanwha Group, was fined 5.1 billion KRW and was jailed for 4 years on charges of embezzlement and breach of trust.

Key networks

R&D: Germany, Malaysia, US, China, and South Korea

Manufacturing: Germany, Czech Republic, Malaysia, China, South Korea, Iraq and US

Marketing & Sales: Australia, Canada, Japan, US, China, South Korea, and Iraq

Business areas

Solar Energy

In a meeting held on May 21, 2022, Kim Dong-kwan, the president of Hanwha Solutions, laid down a plan to spend 36.7 trillion KRW on its energy and aerospace sectors. He said he wanted to commit the company to solar energy to reduce its carbon footprint and supply high quality energy. Additionally, he announced plans to build another modular factory in the United States. In order to tackle the problem of stagnating bee populations, Hanwha has created a solar beehive, that helps to protect and maintain a stable bee population. Hanwha QCELLS has launched a new brand that ventures into the electric vehicle charging market called Hanwha Motiev in 2022.