Saronic, Samsung Heavy Industries Collaborate on Autonomous Marine Systems

Saronic and Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) announced a strategic partnership to accelerate the development of autonomy-capable maritime systems and technologies to strengthen America’s shipbuilding industrial base. Through this partnership, the companies will harness technology and expertise to build the maritime industrial capacity and workforce needed to deliver on American and allied shipbuilding needs, both today and into the future.

The companies unveiled the partnership at the launch of the Korea–U.S. Shipbuilding Partnership Center (KUSPC) in Washington, D.C., a new organization designed to deepen shipbuilding cooperation between the two allied nations and sponsored by the U.S. Department of Commerce and Republic of Korea Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Resources (MOTIR).

The partnership also brings together the companies’ strengths to deliver autonomous vessels for both government and commercial customers. The partnership will explore the development of autonomy and AI-powered digital solutions and will encompass collaboration on production infrastructure, including robotics-based process automation across Saronic’s shipyards. 

The partnership builds on Saronic’s US shipbuilding ecosystem. The company recently announced that Port Alpha, its multi-billion dollar shipyard, will be built in Brownsville, Texas, creating thousands of new jobs in the region. Further, it is investing an additional $300 million to expand capacity at its shipyard in Franklin, Louisiana.