Boston Dynamics’ Atlas humanoid robots perform at Hyundai Motor Group’s booth during CES 2026 in Las Vegas, Jan. 7. Yonhap
Hyundai Motor’s shares have entered a sharp rally this year as investors grow increasingly confident in the carmaker’s robotics vision for the era of physical artificial intelligence (AI), market watchers and analysts said Tuesday.
The surge marks a notable turnaround for the carmaker, whose shares had remained largely range-bound for several years despite steady earnings growth.
Its stock price hit a record high Tuesday, rising 0.9 percent from the previous session.
The rally is widely attributed to growing optimism over the company’s robotics business, with Boston Dynamics — Hyundai Motor’s robotics subsidiary — playing a central role in boosting investor confidence, according to industry officials and analysts.
At this year’s CES tech fair earlier this month, Boston Dynamics unveiled Atlas, its up-to-date humanoid robot, and promoted its commercial value by demonstrating how the robot can be used at manufacturing sites.
Riding on Boston Dynamics’ robot tech prowess, Hyundai Motor has stepped up efforts to promote its vision to drive the era of physical AI by utilizing its diverse robots.
On the back of the stock rally, Hyundai Motor has also risen to become Korea’s third-most-valuable company by market capitalization, following Samsung Electronics and SK hynix.
Headquarters of Hyundai Motor and Kia in Seoul / Courtesy of Hyundai Motor Group
Brokerage houses are also on track to revise up their target stock price for Hyundai Motor on its competitive edge in the robot business.
“Hyundai Motor will be able to enhance competitiveness in terms of production cost by using Boston Dynamics’ humanoid robots at its key assembly lines,” Daol Investment & Securities analyst Yoo Ji-woong said.
“The carmaker will also be able to reduce its gap with the global auto industry leader, Toyota Motor, when reflecting on the enhanced corporate value of Boston Dynamics in the future.”
The securities firm has raised its target price for Hyundai Motor to 640,000 won per share.
“There are only two carmakers — Hyundai Motor Group and Tesla — which are capable of proactively introducing humanoid robots at their auto plants in the next three years,” the analyst said.
Other analysts have also spoken favorably of the carmaker’s proactive expansion into the robotics industry.
“The execution of physical AI strategies is crucial to embrace far-reaching structural changes in the future mobility industry,” Shinhan Investment & Securities analyst Park Kwang-rae said. “Powered by stable cash flow, Hyundai Motor Group is capable of making sustainable investment in the new growth engine.”
In December, Hyundai Motor Group’s autonomous driving unit faced an unexpected risk due to a leadership vacuum. At that time, former 42dot CEO Song Chang-hyun decided abruptly to step down due to the carmaker’s weak progress in self-driving technologies, compared with market leaders such as Tesla.
Hyundai Motor Group has since filled the vacancy by appointing Park Min-woo as the new head of 42dot. Park is an autonomous driving expert with a strong track record, having previously worked at Nvidia and Tesla.
The carmaker also hired Milan Kovac, who led Tesla’s humanoid robot business, as its adviser, in a display of its strong motivation to bolster its robotics and AI business in the era of physical AI.
“The recruitment of the two figures signals that Hyundai Motor Group’s research-focused robotics strategy will shift to mass production and commercialization,” Park said.
Industry officials said the prompt leadership appointment at the struggling self-driving arm clears away the lingering risk from the carmaker.
“After alleviating the risk, Hyundai Motor Group will be able to gain more investors’ confidence, as it is one of the few global carmakers that can produce vehicles of almost all types of powertrains,” the official said.
“On top of that, the group is now expanding its footsteps as a cutting-edge robot industry player, which was not seen from other legacy carmakers.”
