Boston Dynamics IPO may be in works

Hyundai Motor keeps mum on timeline of US robotics unit’s market debut

Boston Dynamics' humanoid robot Atlas (Boston Dynamics)

Hyundai Motor has hinted at exploring options for an initial public offering of its US-based robotics unit Boston Dynamics, as the Korean auto conglomerate aims to bolster robotics capabilities for future businesses.

“Regarding a timeline or plans for Boston Dynamics’ (initial public offering), nothing has been confirmed yet so there is not much to comment right now but we will communicate (with stakeholders) once we have an IPO timeline or plans,” said Lee Seung-jo, chief financial officer and chief strategic officer of Hyundai Motor Co., during the automaker’s conference call on Thursday.

Following Hyundai Motor India's landmark debut on the Indian stock market in October last year that raised about $3.3 billion, market watchers expected that the auto firm's next step would be getting Boston Dynamics listed on the US market.

“Similar to how we carried out (Hyundai Motor India’s IPO), we can say that we are open-minded about Boston Dynamics. However, we have not reviewed (Boston Dynamics’ IPO) at the moment and we do not have plans to review (the IPO option) in the short term," Lee said.

Hyundai Motor Group acquired Boston Dynamics from Japanese IT giant Softbank Group in June 2021 with its affiliates -- Hyundai Motor Co., Hyundai Mobis and Hyundai Glovis -- chipping in a total of 748 billion won ($522 million) to acquire a 60 percent stake, while Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Chung Euisun also bought 20 percent out of his own pocket to complete the acquisition of an 80 percent stake.

As the Korean auto conglomerate has pinned robotics as one of its key future growth engines, along with advanced air mobility and autonomous driving, the outlook for Boston Dynamics’ IPO has become one of the focal points for investors and stakeholders from relevant industries.

However, Boston Dynamics, which has commercialized Spot, a four-legged surveillance robot, and Stretch, a mobile robot with a hydraulic robot arm, has not seen much success in terms of generating profits.

According to a quarterly business report from Hyundai Glovis, which owns a 10.95 percent stake in Boston Dynamics, in November, Boston Dynamics logged net losses of 315.6 billion won and 238.6 billion won in the third and second quarters, respectively, last year.

Despite its ailing business, Hyundai Motor is staying committed to the research and development of robotics, announcing a strategic partnership with Nvidia on Jan. 9 to accelerate the development of advanced artificial intelligence technologies to drive the future of mobility.

Noting the intention to further enhance the application of AI to its key mobility products through the collaboration, Hyundai Motor said it will use Nvidia’s Isaac robot development platform to develop AI robots and safely deploy them.

In October last year, Boston Dynamics also announced a partnership with Toyota Research Institute to accelerate the development of general-purpose humanoid robots using the former’s humanoid robot Atlas and the latter’s large behavior models.

“We’ll start showing more of the dexterous manipulation on the new Atlas that we’ve already shown on our legacy Atlas,” Boston Dynamics CEO Robert Playter said in an interview with IEEE Spectrum, a New York-based magazine published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, April last year.

The new Atlas, which uses electric actuators, wowed the robotics world as it autonomously sorted objects in a factory setting in a video released by Boston Dynamics in October last year.

“We’re targeting proof of technology testing in factories at Hyundai Motor Group as early as next year," said Playter. "HMG is really excited about this venture. They want to transform their manufacturing and they see Atlas as a big part of that, and so we’re going to get on that soon.”

According to MarketsandMarkets, the global industrial robotics and humanoid robot markets are expected to reach $35 billion and $18 billion by 2030, respectively, from $17 billion and $2 billion in 2024.