1. $325 million: the price of full ownership
Hyundai Motor Group has secured full, sole ownership of Boston Dynamics by buying SoftBank Group’s remaining 9.65% stake for $325 million. The deal values Boston Dynamics at about $3.4 billion (about KRW 4.7 trillion), more than three times the $1.1 billion valuation when Hyundai first bought an 80% stake from SoftBank in 2021.
Behind the deal is the expiry of SoftBank’s put option. The 2021 acquisition agreement included a condition that “if no IPO takes place within four years, the remaining stake can be sold back to Hyundai.” After the first deadline passed in June 2025 and the grace period ran out in June 2026, SoftBank exercised its right to demand the sale of its remaining stake. As a result, Hyundai chose to make Boston Dynamics a wholly owned subsidiary instead of taking it public.
2. Where the IPO timeline stands now
The most important fact first: Boston Dynamics’ official IPO timeline has not been set. Neither Hyundai Motor Group nor Boston Dynamics has officially announced a listing date, and no Nasdaq registration statement (Form S-1) has been made public yet.
Still, the market reads the full acquisition as the final piece of the IPO puzzle. With SoftBank’s stake and the put option issue settled, Hyundai Motor Group can decide more quickly on Boston Dynamics’ business direction, listing timing and valuation strategy.
The latest timeline that can be confirmed so far is as follows:
Table
| Stage | Expected timing | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Selecting underwriters and filing for preliminary review | First half of 2026 | In progress (task force reporting directly to Vice Chairman Chang Jae-hoon) |
| Confidential S-1 filing with the SEC | Second half of 2026 | Expected |
| Public offering and listing | First half of 2027 | Most likely scenario |
Industry experts see it as likely that Boston Dynamics will finish selecting underwriters and complete the Nasdaq preliminary review in the first half of 2026, confidentially file an S-1 with the SEC in the second half of 2026, and then aim for a Nasdaq listing in the first half of 2027 (1H 2027).
Valuations vary widely by brokerage. NH Investment & Securities puts it at KRW 36 trillion as of 2027, Yuanta Securities at more than KRW 30 trillion, KB Securities at KRW 128 trillion as of 2035, and Hanwha Investment & Securities as high as KRW 145 trillion. Some optimistic forecasts say the current market valuation of about KRW 30 trillion to 40 trillion could soar to KRW 100 trillion or more if Atlas’s mass-production roadmap is realized.
★ Note: Put option — The right of a shareholder to sell shares to the other party under preset conditions. In the 2021 agreement, SoftBank attached the condition that “if no IPO takes place within four years, the remaining stake can be sold back to Hyundai.”
3. When Atlas starts making real money
The heart of Boston Dynamics is Atlas. Atlas is not just a demo robot that runs and tumbles; it is meant to be an industrial humanoid that takes over repetitive work from people in factories and logistics sites.
At CES in January 2026, Boston Dynamics unveiled a new electric Atlas and said it would begin deployments this year at Hyundai plants and in Google DeepMind settings, then expand to more customers. The partnership with Google DeepMind also matters. If Boston Dynamics’ strength is the robot’s body, Google DeepMind’s role is closer to supplying the brain that lets the robot make decisions and learn.
Hyundai Motor Group plans to build capacity to produce 30,000 Atlas units a year in the United States by 2028. If that plan materializes, Boston Dynamics could shed its image as a research lab and be valued as a full-fledged robot manufacturer.
Atlas is a humanoid robot built for precise, heavy-duty work in factories, and each unit is expected to cost about KRW 200 million. Because it can work around the clock and be deployed in hazardous processes, analysts say it could deliver a return on investment (ROI) within two years of adoption.
4. Where the global Big Tech robot race stands
Hyundai’s full ownership of Boston Dynamics is more than an M&A story. The world’s largest companies are declaring robotics their next core business and racing to get in. Below is each major company’s robotics exposure and current status.
★ Global robotics stocks at a glance (as of June 2026)
★ Note: The ‘robotics exposure’ figures below are BITPRESS editorial estimates that combine each company’s official share of revenue from robotics, investment scale, partnerships, product pipeline and technological links. They are reference estimates, not official financial metrics.
Table
| Company | Robotics exposure | Core position | Key products and strategy | Link to robotics |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hyundai Motor Group | ★★★★★ 95% | Builds and owns humanoids directly | Full ownership of Atlas, targeting mass production of 30,000 units in 2028 | 100% stake in Boston Dynamics, direct deployment in car plants |
| Nvidia | ★★★★★ 93% | Supplies robot brains, platforms and simulation | Isaac GR00T, Cosmos 3, Jetson Thor, Isaac Sim | Dominant position in AI training and simulation infrastructure for robot companies worldwide |
| Samsung Electronics | ★★★★☆ 85% | Rainbow Robotics plus chips and sensors | RB-Y1 humanoid, collaborative robots, wearable robots | Largest shareholder of Rainbow Robotics (35%), linked to chips and on-device AI |
| Google (Alphabet) | ★★★★☆ 84% | Supplies AI brains and robot decision models | Gemini Robotics, DeepMind, RT-2, RT-X | AI built into Boston Dynamics’ Atlas, developing general-purpose AI models for robots |
| LG Electronics | ★★★★☆ 82% | Parts, sensors, batteries and in-house robots | CLOiD home robot, actuators, battery supply for Atlas | Supplies vision sensors and batteries to Boston Dynamics, Figure AI and Tesla |
| Microsoft | ★★★☆☆ 76% | Cloud, AI infrastructure and physical AI toolchain | Azure Physical AI Toolchain, Microsoft Foundry, Omniverse integration | Works with NVIDIA to provide infrastructure for robot training, deployment and digital twins |
| Meta | ★★★☆☆ 65% | Research on AI models and world models for robots | Acquired ARI, an AI startup for humanoid robots | Focused more on AI models and world-model research for robots than on selling robots directly |
| SK hynix | ★★☆☆☆ 62% | Supplies memory infrastructure for robots and AI | HBM4, memory for AI data centers | Dominant supplier of HBM memory essential for robot AI training and inference |
| Apple | ★★☆☆☆ 55% | Home robots and smart home integration | J595 tabletop robot (expected in 2027), J490 smart display | No official robot product yet, but potential in smart home and personal AI robots |
5. Key status and traits by company
Hyundai Motor Group (robotics exposure 95%)
The full acquisition is expected to speed up decision-making in the robotics business dramatically. Hyundai is running a business planning task force that reports directly to Vice Chairman Chang Jae-hoon, and it will fully open RMAC, its robot training center, in the third quarter. Hyundai’s biggest strength is that it owns a laboratory in the form of its car plants. The natural strategy is to put Atlas into Hyundai plants first to prove it out, then expand to outside customers.
Nvidia (robotics exposure 93%)
Nvidia supplies not hardware but the robot’s brain and its entire training environment. At GTC Taipei in May 2026, it announced Cosmos 3 (an open omni-model) and Isaac GR00T (an open reference design for humanoid robots), leading the physical AI ecosystem. Through Jetson Thor onboard computing, Isaac Sim simulation and the Isaac Lab training platform, it dominates the infrastructure used by robot developers worldwide. The more robots there are, the more Nvidia earns from its platforms.
Samsung Electronics (robotics exposure 85%)
Samsung Electronics entered collaborative robots and humanoids directly by acquiring Rainbow Robotics. In late 2024 it raised its stake in Rainbow Robotics to 35% to become the largest shareholder, and it announced plans to make the company a consolidated subsidiary. It is developing the RB-Y1 humanoid and plans to deploy humanoid robots and agentic AI in its factories worldwide by 2030. With chips, sensors, home appliances and smart home businesses, it can extend robots into both living spaces and manufacturing sites.
Google/Alphabet (robotics exposure 84%)
Google DeepMind owns no robots of its own but supplies the most powerful AI brains. It has formalized a partnership to put its Gemini Robotics models into Boston Dynamics’ Atlas and continues to develop robot transformer models such as RT-2 and RT-X. Its position is unusual: it can become a core AI supplier for the robot era without building robots.
LG Electronics (robotics exposure 82%)
LG is one of the fastest-moving Korean companies right now. LG Innotek has ramped up supplies of vision sensing modules to major U.S. humanoid makers including Boston Dynamics, Figure AI and Tesla, and LG Energy Solution was selected as a battery supplier for Atlas. At CES 2026, LG Electronics unveiled CLOiD, an AI-powered home robot, and laid out its ‘zero labor home’ vision. If Hyundai leans toward factory robots, LG leans more toward robots that move around homes and commercial spaces.
Microsoft (robotics exposure 76%)
Microsoft is moving to provide infrastructure for robot training, data generation and physical AI operations through Azure and Microsoft Foundry. Working with NVIDIA, it is integrating the Physical AI Data Factory Blueprint into Azure and linking Microsoft Fabric with NVIDIA Omniverse to build digital-twin-based robot simulation environments. It does not build robots itself, but it is a key supplier of the cloud and AI infrastructure robots need to operate.
Meta (robotics exposure 65%)
Meta has acquired an AI startup for humanoid robots and is moving toward AI models for robots. Its focus is on AI models and world-model research for robots rather than selling robots directly, and it is at the research stage of applying open-source AI models to robots.
SK hynix (robotics exposure 62%)
SK hynix does not make robots, but it benefits as a supplier of the memory infrastructure needed to train robot AI. It supplies memory to AI data centers worldwide with its latest AI memory solutions, including HBM4, and demand is so strong that its entire 2026 chip lineup is already sold out. It is the hidden player supporting the data behind the GPUs that will serve as robot AI’s brain.
Apple (robotics exposure 55%)
Reports keep surfacing about Apple’s home robots and moving displays, but no official product has launched. Apple is reportedly developing a tabletop robot code-named J595 (expected in 2027) and a J490 smart display (expected in mid-2026). There is potential in smart home and personal AI robots, but for now its exposure is less direct than that of Hyundai, Nvidia, Samsung or LG.
6. The key to a robot IPO is ‘repeat sales’ more than ‘technology’
If Boston Dynamics goes public, the market is unlikely to look at technology alone. Its technology is already famous. The question is how repeatedly that technology can be sold.
Spot targets inspection and monitoring, Stretch targets logistics, and Atlas targets manufacturing sites. What matters is how reliably each robot works at real customer sites, how rarely it breaks down, and whether it is economical enough to replace or support human workers. To ease the burden of high prices, Boston Dynamics is also introducing a subscription-based ‘one-stop RaaS (Robots-as-a-Service)’ model.
Impressive demo videos alone cannot sustain a robot company’s valuation for long. In a real IPO market, what counts is revenue, repeat purchases, service contracts, maintenance, software subscriptions and the number of factory deployments.
This is why Hyundai Motor Group’s full acquisition matters. Hyundai can be Boston Dynamics’ biggest early customer. It has a laboratory in its factories, manufacturing know-how and a reason to put robots on real production lines. In effect, it has the conditions to push the technology into commercial use.
7. Speculation: where does this game end?
To draw a clear line between fact and speculation in this article, the following are high-probability scenarios.
First, if Boston Dynamics lists on Nasdaq, the total offering is estimated at about $970 million. The money is likely to become a key source of funding for Chairman Chung Eui-sun’s restructuring of the group’s governance. Chung’s 22.6% stake in Boston Dynamics could be valued at KRW 9 trillion to 20 trillion after listing.
Second, the robotics industry today is structurally similar to the start of the semiconductor supercycle. It is not only GPU makers that benefit, but the whole chain of sensors, batteries, actuators, cooling and cloud. The Boston Dynamics IPO is likely to be the starting gun.
Third, the most likely IPO timing is the first half of 2027. The industry’s median scenario is underwriter selection and preliminary review in the first half of 2026, an SEC S-1 filing in the second half of 2026, and a listing in the first half of 2027. But the timing is fluid, since Chairman Chung Eui-sun may wait for Boston Dynamics’ valuation to rise further.
BITPRESS Insight
Hyundai’s full acquisition of Boston Dynamics is more than an M&A deal. It is a declaration that a Korean company intends to take the lead at the top of the global robotics industry. A division of labor is quickly taking shape: Nvidia provides the brain, LG the body parts, Google the AI models, and Hyundai the finished robots.
The IPO window narrows to the second half of 2026 at the earliest and, most likely, the first half of 2027. To stress it again, this is not an officially confirmed schedule but the industry’s median estimate. Hyundai Motor Group is tidying up its ownership structure by buying SoftBank’s remaining stake, and the market reads this as groundwork for a Nasdaq listing.
There are three key things to watch. First, whether Atlas can actually save money or raise productivity at Hyundai plants. Second, whether Boston Dynamics can go beyond being a demo-robot company and become one that generates recurring revenue. Third, how quickly partnerships with AI infrastructure companies such as Nvidia, Google and Microsoft advance the robot’s brain.
In the end, Hyundai Motor Group fully embracing Boston Dynamics signals that a carmaker wants to move beyond the era of simply making cars. In the factories of the future, people may not be the only ones building cars. The real picture behind this investment is Hyundai’s robots working alongside the cars Hyundai builds.
Sources
Newsspace — Boston Dynamics’ June Nasdaq decision, an analysis of the put option structure
https://www.newsspace.kr/news/article.html?no=13851
Global Economic — June watershed for Boston Dynamics’ Nasdaq listing, targeting early 2027
https://www.g-enews.com/article/Global-Biz/2026/05/2026051822011445392bd56fbc3c_1
The Economy — Boston Dynamics listing expected between 2H 2026 and early 2027, IPO scenarios
http://www.the-economy.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=5577
Junggi Economy — Boston Dynamics valued at KRW 30 trillion, an analysis of the IPO and governance
https://www.junggi.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=36405
e4ds — Nvidia and LG Group’s physical AI partnership, details of the Isaac platform
https://www.e4ds.com/sub_view.asp?ch=31&t=0&idx=22752
Insight Korea — LG Group’s physical AI value chain, battery and sensor supply for Atlas
https://www.insightkorea.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=248405
EBN News — Large-cap robot stocks surge 155% on average, robot stocks around Jensen Huang’s Korea visit
https://www.ebn.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=1711099
Nvidia official release — Physical AI platform announced at CES 2026, partnerships with Boston Dynamics and LG Electronics
https://www.smartn.tech/contents/article_detail?article_idx=35252
