From Energy and Machinery to Semiconductors, Robots, and Medical... Doosan's Endless Transformation (Comprehensive)

Entering Medical Device Manufacturing
Expanding Robot Business and Vending Machine Operations
Doosan Heavy Industries Becomes 'Doosan Enerbility'

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Hyung-gil] Doosan Group, which successfully graduated early from creditor management, is pursuing endless transformation through swift investments. It is preparing innovations following the painful restructuring involving the sale of affiliates such as Infracore. From eco-friendly energy businesses to semiconductors, robotics, and hydrogen sectors, the group has made a startup-like debut in its 126-year corporate history.

On the 29th, Doosan Corporation added medical device manufacturing and vending machine operation as new businesses to its articles of incorporation at the 59th regular shareholders' meeting held at Bundang Doosan Tower in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province. Medical and robotics sectors were emphasized as new growth engines following the entry into the semiconductor business.

In December last year, Doosan invested $100 million in SiO2, a U.S.-based company engaged in the storage container business using advanced materials for pharmaceutical storage, marking its entry into the advanced materials business for pharmaceutical storage.

SiO2 is a pharmaceutical container company that manufactures and supplies storage containers used in mRNA vaccines for COVID-19 by global pharmaceutical companies and has secured supply chains for more than 100 mass-produced and clinical products. Doosan secured exclusive business rights for SiO2 products in the Asia-Oceania region and laid the groundwork for future domestic manufacturing.

The vending machine operation business is connected to collaborative robots. Doosan Robotics, which has led the domestic collaborative robot market, recently entered the food tech market by introducing modular robot cafes, cooking robots such as the deep-frying and noodle cooking robot Cookbot Chef, and ice cream robots.

Semiconductors are also a field where Doosan’s choice for business structure diversification is becoming concrete. Earlier this month, Doosan acquired Tesna, the number one company in the semiconductor testing field, for 460 billion KRW, planning to nurture the semiconductor business as a core business group alongside energy (power generation) and industrial machinery sectors.

On this day, Doosan Corporation appointed Moon Hong-seong, Chief Business Officer (CBO), as co-CEO. The company will operate under a three-person co-CEO system consisting of Park Jung-won, Chairman of Doosan Group and chairman of the board, Kim Min-cheol, Chief Financial Officer (CFO), and Moon Hong-seong, Chief Business Officer (CBO).

New CEO Moon previously held key positions at the Ministry of Strategy and Finance and joined Doosan Corporation’s holding company strategy support office in 2010, serving as Chief Strategy Officer (CSO). At the end of last year, he was appointed head of the business division overseeing Doosan Corporation’s operations. Going forward, CEO Moon will focus on the full-scale growth of new businesses such as collaborative robots, hydrogen drones, and logistics automation, as well as discovering new growth engines alongside existing businesses like electronic materials.

Doosan Enerbility

Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction also announced at the shareholders' meeting on the same day that it would change its name to ‘Doosan Enerbility’ and actively foster growth businesses such as gas turbines, hydrogen, offshore wind power, and small modular reactors (SMR).

Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction plans to invest 300 billion KRW in the hydrogen turbine sector and 200 billion KRW in the offshore wind power sector by 2026, aiming to increase the proportion of orders from growth businesses from the current single-digit percentage to over 60% by 2025. To this end, following the commercialization of large gas turbines scheduled for this year, the company is developing an 8MW offshore wind power generation system and participating as the lead institution in a national project to develop an 8MW floating offshore wind power system.

Doosan Group’s transformation stems from the green blueprint of Chairman Park Jung-won. Former Group Chairman Park Yong-man completely severed ties with the company by disposing of all Doosan shares held jointly with his two sons, and now Chairman Park Jung-won is leading the breakthrough through the crisis.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.