![\"HD](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/news-p.v1.20260814.0dd1c813623044648bdc256b24cef8c8_P1.jpg\"\/ "\\"Bill")
HD Hyundai Chairman Chung Ki-sun (right) met with Bill Gates, founder and chairman of TerraPower, in Seoul on the 14th to discuss mutual cooperation. \/HD Hyundai<\/p>\nBill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft and founder of next-generation nuclear firm TerraPower, met on the 14th with SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, HD Hyundai Chairman Chung Ki-sun and other leading figures from South Korea’s business and political circles in a series of meetings to discuss cooperation on small modular reactors (SMRs) and power supply for artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n
The meetings reflect a view that partnering with Korean companies \u2014 which are competitive in areas such as nuclear plant design and manufacturing \u2014 is essential to meet surging electricity demand. TerraPower’s SMR project has reached a key milestone by winning the first construction permit for a commercial advanced reactor in the United States.<\/p>\n
HD Hyundai Chairman Chung Ki-sun (right) met with Bill Gates, founder and chairman of TerraPower, in Seoul on the 14th to discuss mutual cooperation. \/HD Hyundai<\/p>\n
In his meeting with Chey, Gates discussed responses to growing power demand from the spread of AI data centers, the direction of the next-generation nuclear industry, and the potential for U.S.-Korea nuclear cooperation. SK Inc. (034730.KS) and SK Innovation (096770.KS) jointly invested a total of $250 million in TerraPower in 2022, becoming its second-largest shareholder.<\/p>\n
On the same day, SK Innovation and TerraPower signed an agreement to cooperate on the sodium SMR business. The agreement calls for expanding SK Innovation’s participation in the SMR demonstration reactor TerraPower is building in the United States and in follow-on commercial projects, as well as broadening the use of Korea’s domestic SMR supply chain. The two sides also agreed to gradually flesh out plans for “K-Sodium,” a Korea-tailored business model.<\/p>\n
The sodium SMR is based on the fourth-generation sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR) developed by TerraPower. Because it can secure both a stable baseload power source and output flexibility, it is regarded as an energy solution aimed at large-scale power consumers such as AI data centers, semiconductor plants and industrial complexes. SK Innovation plans to expand its participation in TerraPower’s sodium SMR project “Kemmerer Unit 1,” under way in the U.S. state of Wyoming, as well as in follow-on commercial projects.<\/p>\n
Gates also met with Chung and Hyundai Engineering & Construction CEO Lee Han-woo to review progress on a business agreement signed earlier. In May, the three companies agreed to join forces on commercializing the sodium reactor, establishing a structure in which TerraPower provides the technology, HD Hyundai (267250.KS) manufactures the main equipment, and Hyundai Engineering & Construction handles engineering, procurement and construction (EPC).<\/p>\n
“Based on a cooperation framework spanning technology, manufacturing and EPC, we will be able to accelerate the commercialization of next-generation reactors,” Chung said. “Through collaboration with global companies, we will actively respond to the growing demand for SMR power generation.”<\/p>\n
HD Hyundai began investing in TerraPower in 2022, won an order for a cylindrical reactor vessel in December 2024, and in May this year was named the preferred bidder to manufacture and supply core equipment for the main components of the sodium reactor. The company plans to invest ahead of demand in production facilities, targeting a system that can supply two to three reactor vessels a year.<\/p>\n
The alliance with Doosan is also deepening. Doosan Enerbility said on the same day that it had won orders to manufacture the reactor protection vessel, reactor support structure and reactor internal structures for TerraPower’s sodium reactor. These core components will be supplied to Kemmerer Unit 1.<\/p>\n
Separately, Gates met on the same day with Prime Minister Han Sung-sook and National Assembly Speaker Cho Jung-sik, and held talks with Export-Import Bank of Korea President Hwang Ki-yeon to discuss financial cooperation for entering global markets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft and founder of next-generation nuclear firm TerraPower, met on the 14th with SK…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":119316,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[10352,410,409,408,752,1363,9104,61741,14727],"class_list":["post-119315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-doosan","tag-bill-gates","tag-doosan","tag-doosan-enerbility","tag-doosan-group","tag-hd-hyundai","tag-sk-innovation","tag-small-modular-reactor","tag-sodium-smr","tag-terrapower"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}