Ballard & Kolon aim to advance fuel cell excellence with new agreement

Ballard has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Korean manufacturer and long-term partner, Kolon Industries, strengthening collaboration and innovation across technology, strategy, and the hydrogen value chain.

The agreement was signed by Ballard CEO Marty Neese and Kolon President Sung Huh on December 4, 2025 during the annual World Hydrogen Expo in Seoul, South Korea. The MoU marks an important step toward a deeper strategic collaboration between the two companies, combining Kolon’s strengths in materials and humidifier technologies with Ballard’s leadership in fuel cell systems. 

"Kolon’s scalable manufacturing capabilities and mature production know-how offer a clear path to cost reduction as volumes ramp up. The strong technical fit with our system requirements allows for smoother integration and predictable performance, which contributes to reducing long-term engineering and validation costs. This partnership supports our long-term cost-down roadmap, ensuring competitiveness against industry benchmarks."

Marty Neese CEO, Ballard

Focusing their enhanced cooperation on core fuel cell solutions, the partners will look to strengthen in the area of moisture control devices (MCD) – which use advanced technology to integrate with HVAC systems in order to manage a platform's humidity – while escalating joint R&D initiatives and improving performance across Ballard’s global applications portfolio.

Also speaking in Seoul, Kolon's Huh said that the MoU marks an important milestone in strengthening Kolon and Ballard’s strategic working relationship, pledging to continue his company’s efforts to expand the hydrogen market in the region and worldwide.

Immediate next steps for the collaborators involve the execution of a more stable component supply system, which will support Ballard’s ambitious plans and growing deployment activities across global hydrogen mobility and energy storage segments.