Hyundai Motor shares soared 18% to a record high. The excitement may be related to Nvidia.
Hyundai lags behind Tesla in the implementation of autonomous driving systems, but its partnership with Nvidia could change the situation.
Hyundai Motor shares rose sharply in Seoul trading and hit a record high. The jump in the South Korean automaker's share price came amid rumors of an expanded partnership with Nvidia to make a breakthrough in the development of driverless cars.
Details
Hyundai Motor shares rose 17.5% during trading on January 7, reaching a new record high of 362,000 won ($250) per share, leaving the broader market far behind: the Kospi index added only 1.9% at its peak. Hyundai shares rose nearly 14% at the end of the trading session.
The announcement of the introduction of Atlas humanoid robots at Hyundai factories, made at the CES exhibition in Las Vegas, is not enough to explain the rally, Reuters writes, citing Kiwoom Securities analyst Shin Yoon-chul. The expert noted that only 30,000 robots are planned to be produced by 2028, and the robot itself has only been presented as a mock-up so far.
According to the analyst, the surge in prices was triggered by reports of closed-door talks at CES between Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Eui-sun and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. After that, the market began to factor into prices a scenario in which the cooperation would go beyond standard chip supplies and could lead to direct investment by Nvidia in Hyundai's structures, the expert believes.
Context
The meeting between Hyundai Motor and Nvidia took place the day after the American company's surprise announcement of the launch of Alpamayo, Nvidia's first artificial intelligence system for driverless cars, according to the Korea JoongAng Daily. Despite years of massive capital investment, Hyundai has yet to achieve significant success in the field of autonomous driving and is considered to be lagging behind Tesla, the publication notes.
The head of Nvidia also met behind closed doors at CES with Mercedes-Benz executives. The first production car to come with a full suite of autonomous driving features from Nvidia, including Alpamayo, will be the 2025 Mercedes-Benz CLA. It is expected to hit the roads in the US in the first quarter, in Europe in the second quarter, and in Asia at the end of 2026, Electrek reported on January 6 from CES.
What analysts think about stocks
According to FactSet, the market is almost unanimously betting on Hyundai Motor shares: the Korean company has 28 buy recommendations (Buy and Overweight ratings), three hold recommendations (Hold), and none to sell (Sell or Underweight).
The consensus on Mercedes-Benz shares is "above market" (Overweight), but analysts are more skeptical: opinions are divided almost equally between "bulls" and those who advise waiting (11 Buy and Overweight ratings versus 12 Hold). Three other experts recommend selling the German auto giant's shares (Sell and Underweight ratings).
This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor
