By late 1989 the Australian Submarine Corporation's new shipyard was completed. ASC moved from its temporary premises in Woodville and construction of the first hull sections began in the 150 metre long workshop.

By that time work was already underway at hundreds of factories around the world on parts and equipment for the submarines. At Champagne-sur-Seine on the outskirts of Paris the first propulsion motor was being built, and the Westinghouse factory in Sydney was preparing to build five more. At Hedemora in Sweden the prototype diesel engine had been built and tested, and Australian Defence Industries at Garden Island in Sydney was gearing up to build the remaining engines. Strachan & Henshaw in Bristol was working closely with Kockums and the manufacturers, Australian Defence Industries in Bendigo, Victoria, on the design and construction of the torpedo tubes and weapons discharge systems. At Jönköping in southern Sweden Saab Instruments was working with its Australian partner Wormald on the ship control system – regarded as one of the riskiest areas of the submarine project. At Kockums' shipyard in Mälmo welding crews were at work on two major sections of the first submarine. At its plant in Blacktown, New South Wales, Chicago Bridge & Iron had begun fabrication of the steel for sections to be assembled in Adelaide, while the engineering firm Johns Perry, a subsidiary of Boral, was beginning the complex manufacture of the platforms on which most of the equipment would be assembled before being inserted into the hull sections.