Like pulling Excalibur from the stone, HyundaiHYMTF

unlocked what Big Tech couldn’t — Boston Dynamics. Thanks to the acquired unit, the automaker’s Korean-listed shares are up 77% this year amid the unveiling of its Atlas humanoid. The robot-driven rally pushed Hyundai past GMGM

as the world’s fourth-most valuable automaker, cementing its claim to the emerging “physical AI” frontier.

• With analysts raising targets, the surge has already made Hyundai Asia’s best-performing stock this year, with KB Securities calling it “the only company that can rival Tesla” in robotics.
• Atlas debuts in factories ~2028, lifting 110 lbs with tactile hands — as partnerships with NvidiaNVDA
  , GoogleGOOGL
  , and ToyotaTM
  fuel the hype.

Beyond the factory: Hyundai’s run-up comes as Goldman Sachs projects the humanoid market will reach $38B by 2035, while Morgan Stanley sees it growing to $5T by 2050. The automaker plans to mass-produce 30K US units annually, calling humanoids “the largest segment” of physical AI’s future. Meanwhile, rivals like MobileyeMBLY

and TeslaTSLA

are making similar pivots, with Elon Musk claiming Optimus could represent 80% of Tesla’s value. Still, doubters question whether humanoids will deliver productivity gains or just become an expensive distraction from selling cars.