Hyundai completes Boston Dynamics buy, eyes 2028 Atlas rollout
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- Hyundai Motor Group will pay $325 million for SoftBank's remaining 9.65% stake in Boston Dynamics, with board approval expected June 22 and the deal closing out a put option SoftBank kept from Hyundai's 2021 acquisition of an 80% stake.
- Boston Dynamics publicly demonstrated the electric Atlas humanoid robot at CES on January 5, 2026, with production deployment planned at Hyundai's Metaplant EV facility near Savannah, Georgia by 2028.
- Boston Dynamics CEO Robert Playter said Atlas must learn new factory tasks in one to two days and hit 99.9% reliability before it earns a permanent place on production lines.
- Hyundai Mobis, the group's components arm, is tied to actuator production for Atlas, keeping a critical hardware system inside Hyundai's own supply chain.
- SoftBank is exiting to redeploy capital toward its $41 billion OpenAI bet and a separate Roze AI venture targeting a $100 billion valuation for AI infrastructure and data centers.
- Tesla has shifted part of its Fremont factory footprint toward Optimus after ending Model S and Model X production, while Figure AI has placed humanoids in BMW factory trials, sharpening the commercial race around Atlas.
Why it matters: Hyundai converts a $325 million buyout into full control of a humanoid robotics firm with a captive first customer — its own Metaplant EV factory, where Atlas deployment begins by 2028. SoftBank trades a 9.65% position for capital to fund a $41 billion OpenAI commitment and a separate $100 billion AI infrastructure play, repositioning from product robotics toward data-center buildout.
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