■ Hyundai E&C forges a global partnership with Webuild, Italy’s world-renowned infrastructure construction firm

■ Expects to generate synergy through a strategic partnership with a leading enterprise... Full-scale push to expand its influence in key overseas markets

Hyundai E&C signing the ‘Strategic Memorandum of Understanding for Cooperation in Large-Scale Infrastructure and Energy Projects, including Pumped Storage Hydroelectricity’ with Webuild.

Hyundai E&C is bolstering its global competitiveness in the realms of large-scale infrastructure and promising future energy projects by forging a collaboration with one of Europe's premier, world-class infrastructure construction companies.

On March 13th (local time), Hyundai E&C announced that it had signed a strategic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the global construction enterprise Webuild, concerning ‘Cooperation in Large-Scale Infrastructure and Energy Projects, including Pumped Storage Hydroelectricity.’ The MoU signing ceremony, held at Webuild's headquarters in Rome, Italy, was attended by key executives from both companies, including Hyundai E&C CEO Lee Han-Woo and Webuild CEO Pietro Salini.

Webuild is a top-tier global construction firm specializing in mega-scale, complex engineering projects, with a primary focus on railways, tunnels, dams, and both traditional and pumped storage hydroelectric power. The company holds a formidable market share in advanced markets—including Italy and Europe, North America, and Australia. In 2025, it ranked among the very top international contractors according to the U.S.-based Engineering News-Record (ENR) and notably secured the top spot in the water resources sector, which encompasses dams and reservoirs.

This agreement was conceived to elevate the global competitiveness of both companies through a strategic partnership—leveraging their outstanding capabilities and world-class experience in infrastructure construction—at a time when the global infrastructure market is becoming increasingly mega-scale, complex, and fiercely competitive.

With this MoU as a springboard, Hyundai E&C and Webuild will jointly pursue energy projects, including pumped storage hydroelectricity, alongside critical public infrastructure such as high-speed railways and airports. This collaborative footprint will span advanced markets in Europe and North America, as well as the broader Asia-Pacific and Middle East regions. Building on mutual trust, the two companies intend to establish exclusive cooperative frameworks for specific target markets. In addition, they plan to continually forge new collaboration models by exploring the establishment of joint ventures tailored to the unique characteristics of individual projects and by expanding both the fields of cooperation and the scope of targeted businesses.

Pumped storage hydroelectricity, capable of storing massive amounts of power, is drawing renewed attention in the global energy market as a ‘long-duration energy storage system.’ It compensates for the intermittency of renewable energy sources, thereby ensuring the stability of the power grid.

According to the 2025 World Hydropower Outlook published by the International Hydropower Association (IHA), the global installed capacity of pumped storage hydroelectricity in 2024 stood at approximately 189 GW, a 5% increase from the previous year. Driven by the expansion of renewable energy and the pressing need for a stable power grid, this sector is growing rapidly across regions such as the Asia-Pacific, Europe, and North America.

Hyundai E&C, with its unrivaled technological prowess and execution know-how in fields including large-scale hydroelectric power plants, tunnels, and deep underground spaces, plans to create powerful synergy with the highly competitive Webuild. Through this alliance, Hyundai E&C intends to accelerate its expansion into advanced markets, focusing on both large-scale industrial infrastructure and pumped storage hydroelectric projects.

A Hyundai E&C official stated, “As the undisputed, pioneering construction leader that has played a major role in building large-scale infrastructure at home and abroad, Hyundai E&C has consistently strengthened its global business capabilities by executing projects in a diverse array of countries.” The official added, “Through this agreement, we will establish a long-term strategic partnership to focus on expanding our overseas market presence, particularly in advanced nations. At the same time, we will expand our influence in pumped storage hydroelectricity—a strategic future energy business—thereby cementing our position as a comprehensive global energy solutions provider.”