![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1788214332_52_news-p.v1.20260811.ea4326420946435c907321724c6b2f5a_P1.png\"\/ "\\"Regulator")
A view of Hanwha Group’s headquarters in Seoul’s Jung District. \/Hanwha<\/p>\nA view of Hanwha Group’s headquarters in Seoul’s Jung District. \/Hanwha<\/p>\n
Hanwha Group’s acquisition of shares in Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) has won antitrust approval, clearing the way for the group to accelerate its plan to build a “Korean SpaceX” spanning aviation, space and defense.<\/p>\n
The Fair Trade Commission approved the stake purchase by Hanwha (000880.KS) on the 31st, concluding that the deal raises no concerns about restricting market competition.<\/p>\n
Hanwha Group holds a combined 15.89% of KAI through Hanwha Aerospace (012450.KS) with 9.90%, Hanwha Systems (272210.KS) with 4.98% and Hanwha Aerospace USA with 1.01%. That makes it the second-largest shareholder after the Export-Import Bank of Korea, which owns 26.41%. The National Pension Service holds 8.75%.<\/p>\n
The approval gives added momentum to Hanwha’s “Korean SpaceX” vision. Hanwha has core technology and manufacturing capabilities in aircraft engines, guided weapons, radar and satellites, as well as in land and naval defense, while KAI holds systems integration capabilities for fighter jets, helicopters and unmanned aircraft. As the second-largest shareholder, Hanwha is reviewing ways to take part in key decision-making, including boosting synergies through business cooperation and supporting expansion of global exports.<\/p>\n
Some observers expect Hanwha to move aggressively on an acquisition or merger if the government pushes ahead with privatizing KAI. The FTC, however, treated the deal as a simplified review after determining that it does not amount to securing control, meaning Hanwha would have to undergo a separate merger review if it buys more shares and becomes the largest shareholder.<\/p>\n
Hanwha has argued that the industry needs consolidation and scale to compete with global space, aviation and defense companies. Kim Dong-kwan, vice chairman of Hanwha Group, recently unveiled a medium- to long-term strategy calling for 55 trillion won ($40 billion) in investment through 2040, saying, “Korea should no longer view space and aviation as separate industries.” He added, “Only when space, aviation, artificial intelligence and defense are connected as one can we leap forward as a true AI space power.”<\/p>\n
![\"Hanwha](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/news-p.v1.20260817.4b86952facc440618308e80d1bfffc4d_P1.jpg\"\/ "\\"Regulator")
Hanwha Group Vice Chairman Kim Dong-kwan presents a mid- to long-term strategy to invest 55 trillion won by 2040 to make Korea an AI space power, at a national briefing on the advanced industry development vision for the Yeongnam region held in Jinju, Gyeongsangnam Province, in July. Yonhap News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A view of Hanwha Group’s headquarters in Seoul’s Jung District. \/Hanwha Hanwha Group’s acquisition of shares in Korea…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":138458,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[4003,604,355,277,354,1832,670,674],"class_list":["post-138457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hanwha-aerospace","tag-defense-industry","tag-fair-trade-commission","tag-hanwha","tag-hanwha-aerospace","tag-hanwha-group","tag-kai-stake","tag-korea-aerospace-industries","tag-korean-spacex"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138457","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=138457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138457\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}