South Korea’s top wire and cable maker, LS Cable & System Asia, has secured a partnership with a Vietnamese state-run company as part of its bid to foray into the underwater cable market in Southeast Asia.

LS Cable & System Asia announced Thursday that it has signed a memorandum of understanding for a submarine cable business partnership with PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation, a subsidiary of Vietnam-owned oil and gas group, PetroVietnam.

PTSC provides the technical services for the petroleum and energy industry, including oil and gas platforms, wind turbines and seabed survey data.

Starting with Vietnam, the two will explore the submarine cable business opportunities across the Association of Southeast Asian Nations member states together.

Vietnam is currently building an offshore wind farm that can generate some 60 gigawatt-hours, which is expected to finish the construction by 2030. Once finished, it will be one of the top five largest offshore wind power plants in Asia, behind Korea and Taiwan.

Amid the bolstered demand to connect the electrical grids of ASEAN countries, PTSC is now putting efforts into an undersea cable between Vietnam and Singapore, which would be the foothold of expansion.

“This business partnership is significant to LS Cable & System Asia, the leader of the power cable market in Vietnam,” an official from LS Cable & System Asia said. “Based on our experience accumulated over three decades, we aim to be the pioneer of the submarine cable industry.”