[Special Stock] Hanshin Machinery to Build Nuclear Power Plant in China with 520 Trillion Investment... "Achieving Carbon Neutrality"

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] Hanshin Machinery is showing strong performance. It appears that the news of China, the world's largest carbon emitter, planning to build a substantial number of nuclear power plants for carbon neutrality has influenced the stock price.

As of 9:34 AM on the 4th, Hanshin Machinery was trading at 4,885 KRW, up 15.08% (640 KRW) compared to the previous trading day.

According to foreign media, the Chinese government plans to invest $440 billion (approximately 520 trillion KRW) over the next 15 years to build at least 150 nuclear power plants. This number exceeds the total number of nuclear plants built worldwide, excluding China, over the past 35 years.

If China's plan proceeds as expected, it is likely to surpass the United States as the world's largest nuclear power producer within a few years. While many countries have refrained from constructing new nuclear plants following the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan, China is the only major country showing an active stance.

The World Nuclear Association (WNA) expects China's nuclear power generation costs to be lower than those of other countries due to a business structure where 70% of the reactor construction costs are financed through low-interest loans from state-owned banks.

Chinese authorities have announced plans to reduce the proportion of fossil fuel use to below 20% by 2060. Ultimately, they aim to replace the current 2,990 coal-fired power plants with clean energy power plants by 2060. Bloomberg News forecasts that nuclear power will rank third in China's energy consumption mix to achieve this goal.

Hanshin Machinery has secured core technology for compressors used in nuclear power generation. Since acquiring nuclear power compressor technology in the early 2000s, the company has supplied compressors to domestic nuclear power plants including Yeonggwang Units 5 and 6, the first nuclear power plants in Korea, as well as Shin-Kori Units 3 and 4. In April 2018, it earned ISO 8573 CLASS 0 certification for its AL model (Oil-free), recognizing the quality completeness.

Overseas, Hanshin Machinery established a local subsidiary in Qingdao, China, in 2001 to conduct production and sales activities. In 2017, by acquiring additional shares in Hanshin Precision, which manufactures air tanks, the company has been striving to expand its business areas related to air compressors as well as ensure efficient supply of air tanks.