Hyundai Completes Boston Dynamics Buyout

Hyundai Motor Group plans to buy SoftBank Group's remaining 9.65% stake in Boston Dynamics for $325 million to make the US robotics firm a wholly owned subsidiary, South Korea's Maeil Business Newspaper reported on Friday.

According to the report, Hyundai's board is expected to meet on June 22 to approve the purchase.

The price follows the put option SoftBank retained when Hyundai bought control of Boston Dynamics in 2021.

Hyundai paid about $880 million for an 80% stake in Boston Dynamics in the 2021 transaction, valuing the company at roughly $1.1 billion at the time.

The $325 million price tag for 9.65% implies a valuation of roughly $3.4 billion for Boston Dynamics—more than triple the $1.1 billion valuation from the 2020 deal.

Why Is SoftBank Exiting Now?

SoftBank exercised a put option—agreed upon in the 2021 deal—allowing sale of its remaining stake by June 2026. The timing is not arbitrary. SoftBank exits to redeploy capital toward its $41 billion OpenAI bet and AI infrastructure.

SoftBank had bought Boston Dynamics from Alphabet in 2017, after Google had acquired the robotics lab in 2013. The Japanese conglomerate's ownership was brief but consequential—during SoftBank's tenure, Boston Dynamics commercialized its first two products, Spot and Stretch, after nearly three decades as a research-focused company.

But SoftBank's broader robotics strategy has shifted. In October 2025, SoftBank announced it signed an agreement to divest ABB's Robotics division for an enterprise value of $5.375 billion, with the transaction expected to close in mid-to-late 2026.

Masayoshi Son, Chairman & CEO of SoftBank Group Corp., said: "SoftBank's next frontier is Physical AI." The Boston Dynamics exit appears to be part of a capital reallocation toward industrial robotics at scale rather than mobile robotics development.

What Does Hyundai Get for $325 Million?

Full ownership removes the last outside shareholder from one of Hyundai's most closely watched technology bets. Hyundai Motor Group, including Executive Chair Euisun Chung and affiliates Hyundai Motor, Kia, Hyundai Mobis and Hyundai Glovis, owns just over 90% of Boston Dynamics—buying SoftBank's 9.65% stake would close the remaining gap and remove an outside shareholder from one of Hyundai's most closely watched future businesses.

More importantly, the timing aligns with commercial deployment. All Atlas deployments are already fully committed for 2026, with fleets scheduled to ship to Hyundai's Robotics Metaplant Application Center (RMAC) and Google DeepMind in the coming months.

A production version of Atlas is expected to begin work at Hyundai's electric vehicle plant near Savannah, Georgia, by 2028.

Boston Dynamics unveiled the product version of its new Atlas robot at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on January 5, 2026, during Hyundai's global CES media day presentation, which also featured a live stage demonstration of the prototype version of Atlas.

Boston Dynamics is not yet profitable. Boston Dynamics posted revenue of 150.1 billion won last year, up about 30% from the previous year, but its net loss increased by about 20% to 528.4 billion won due to burdens such as investment costs.

Despite strong revenue growth driven by commercial products and research platforms, Boston Dynamics has reported significant operating losses—the company's significant operating losses reached 440.5 billion won in 2024.

How Does This Fit Hyundai's Automation Strategy?

Hyundai has positioned robotics as a core pillar of its transformation beyond automotive manufacturing. Hyundai has announced a US$86bn investment in Korea over five years and a US$26bn investment in the US—both aimed at advancing robotics powered by AI technologies.

Hyundai plans to scale production significantly, targeting the manufacturing of up to 30,000 robot units annually.

The Group is leveraging its extensive manufacturing expertise and uniting affiliates within the Group Value Network to apply mass-production capabilities from automotive to AI Robotics—Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Corporation provide manufacturing infrastructure, process control, and large-scale production data.

Hyundai Mobis Company works closely with Boston Dynamics to develop high-performance actuators and mark its official entry into the global robotics components market. This integration turns Boston Dynamics from an independent robotics company into a manufacturing platform embedded within Hyundai's industrial ecosystem.

The RaaS model has already been deployed with global partners such as DHL, Nestlé, and Maersk—this end-to-end RaaS strategy positions the Group not only as an AI Robotics manufacturer, but also as a long-term service and operations partner.

Where Does Boston Dynamics Stand in the Humanoid Race?

The humanoid robot market has become intensely competitive. China now controls 90% of the global humanoid robot market—Chinese companies control 90% of the humanoid robot market, dominating the technology that will reshape manufacturing and labor.

Between 13,000 and 18,000 humanoid robots were sold globally in 2025, according to data from research firms Omdia and IDC.

Unitree and Agibot each sold more units than Tesla's overall production target of 5,000 humanoid robots for 2025, which it did not meet.

The three non-Chinese companies that made it to Omdia's top-selling humanoid robots chart for last year were American: Figure AI, Agility Robotics, and Tesla—these companies, however, trail their Chinese rivals by a wide margin, with each selling only around 150 robots.

Boston Dynamics' Atlas is not yet in volume production, but it has technical advantages. For industrial applications, Atlas currently surpasses Optimus in several key metrics: 50 kg payload (vs. 20 kg), 56 degrees of freedom, IP67 weatherproofing, and autonomous battery swapping.

Agility Robotics (Digit) and Figure AI are among the US-based humanoid robot manufacturers closest to verified industrial or logistics deployment evidence in 2026—Agility has confirmed Amazon warehouse testing and a production facility designed for volume output, and Figure AI has a confirmed BMW production pilot.

What Changed This Week

Hyundai is finalizing its acquisition of SoftBank's remaining 9.65% stake in Boston Dynamics for $325 million, a transaction that values the robotics company at approximately $3.4 billion—triple its 2021 valuation. The deal, expected to be approved June 22, follows a contractual put option from the original 2021 agreement and removes the last outside shareholder as Boston Dynamics begins shipping its first commercial Atlas humanoid robots. SoftBank is exiting to focus on industrial robotics and AI infrastructure, including its $5.4 billion acquisition of ABB's robotics division.

What to Watch

The June 22 board meeting will confirm whether Hyundai proceeds with the acquisition on the reported terms. Beyond that, the key milestone is Atlas production volume at Hyundai's Georgia EV plant, scheduled to begin operations in 2028. Hyundai has committed to manufacturing up to 30,000 robot units annually, but execution risk remains high—no company has yet achieved profitable, large-scale humanoid robot production. The broader competitive landscape will also matter: Chinese manufacturers Unitree and Agibot are already shipping thousands of units, and Figure AI's BMW deployment is expanding to a second plant. Whether Hyundai's automotive manufacturing expertise translates to robotics at scale will determine if this $1.2 billion total investment pays off.

Reporting based on coverage from Maeil Business Newspaper, Seoul Economic Daily, Reuters, Startup Fortune, Crypto Briefing, June 19-20, 2026.