Atlas Has 31 Actuators. Boston Dynamics Preps Suppliers for 10,000

Boston Dynamics has closed its component supplier list for the Atlas humanoid and asked selected firms to prepare for orders covering 10,000 robots. Korean outlet KED Global reported this on October 27. No order has been placed yet — this is a readiness request, and component volumes and prices remain undecided.

Key takeaways

• Per KED Global, the Atlas supplier lineup is final and firms were asked to prepare for 10,000 robots
• Hyundai Mobis is to supply all 31 of Atlas's actuators
• Batteries: Samsung SDI and LG Energy Solution. Hand cameras: MCNEX and Cammsys. Processor: NVIDIA
• First purchase orders are expected no earlier than late 2027 or early 2028
• The Hyundai Mobis actuator partnership was officially announced by Boston Dynamics on January 7, 2026, at CES

What does 10,000 actually mean?

Atlas has 31 actuators — the drive motors that move its joints. Building 10,000 robots means 310,000 actuators to manufacture, test and ship at consistent quality.

Add batteries from two Korean cell makers, cameras in both hands, a main camera, a headlamp, control arms and an NVIDIA processor. Each item has its own supplier, its own line and its own schedule.

For Korea's auto industry these volumes are routine. For humanoid robotics, 10,000 units is a scale no manufacturer worldwide has yet reached.

But there is a catch: nobody has ordered anything yet.

KED describes a request to prepare for orders, not a signed contract. That distinction governs how the whole report should be read.

Who supplies what?

Per the KED Global breakdown relayed by Humanoids Daily, the split is as follows:

One inconsistency is worth noting. The KED headline describes an all-Korean supply chain, while the text itself names NVIDIA as the processor supplier. The more precise description is a Korean-led component network, not an exclusively Korean one. Supplier nationality also does not establish the origin of every upstream material.

What do these names mean?

A few terms recur here, and without them the scale is hard to judge.

• Actuator — the drive motor moving a single robot joint. The equivalent of a muscle attached to a tendon. Atlas has 31, roughly matching its number of independently controlled axes of motion.
• Purchase order — a binding document committing a buyer to take a specific quantity at a specific price. Only this triggers production. A readiness request is an earlier stage, the equivalent of holding a slot without a deposit.
• Tier-one supplier — a firm selling a finished subassembly directly to the final manufacturer, rather than individual bolts or chips.
• Control arm — a suspension element carrying loads and maintaining motion geometry. Standard in cars, serving the same function in a humanoid's legs.

Together these explain why the list reads as a map of preparations, not as a finished product specification.

Why not just buy off-the-shelf components?

The simpler route suggests itself: order actuators and cameras from existing industrial robotics suppliers and skip building a new network.

The problem is that industrial robotics does not produce at these volumes or in this configuration. An actuator for a fixed welding arm faces different mass, power-density and energy-draw requirements than the joint of a walking humanoid. At 310,000 units, unit cost stops being a detail and becomes the project's main parameter.

KED names the second reason outright: reducing dependence on China. Rare-earth permanent magnets, critical to actuators, remain an area of Chinese dominance. Meanwhile, US bills restricting robots with components deemed at risk are in progress, among them the American Security Robotics Act.

The third problem is service. A fleet in the thousands needs spare parts, repair procedures and liability for defects. Hyundai's automotive supplier network has had that infrastructure for decades.

Is it live yet?

No. This is supplier selection, not an order and not production. KED Global published the report on October 27, 2026, citing people familiar with the matter. Final component quantities and prices remain undecided, and first purchase orders are expected no earlier than late 2027 or early 2028.

Only one piece of the puzzle is officially confirmed. On January 7, 2026, at CES in Las Vegas, Hyundai Mobis announced a strategic collaboration with Boston Dynamics and said it would supply actuators for Atlas. In the same release, Hyundai Motor Group stated that under a $26 billion US investment it plans to build and deploy tens of thousands of robots over the next few years.

Why does this matter?

Humanoids are moving from demonstration into industrial procurement, which is an entirely different discipline. Which manufacturer actually ships thousands of robots will be decided not by demo quality but by actuator availability at consistent quality and price. Korea's auto industry enters that role with infrastructure already in place — something most humanoid startups lack.

What's next?

• First purchase orders with selected suppliers are expected no earlier than late 2027 or early 2028, per KED Global
• Hyundai Motor Group plans to deploy Atlas across its own factories from 2028
• Hyundai Mobis's role on grippers remains unresolved, described by KED as an expectation rather than a confirmed contract

Sources

• KED Global — Boston Dynamics' Atlas supply chain goes all-Korean, led by Hyundai Mobis; 10,000-unit order in sight
• Humanoids Daily — Boston Dynamics Taps Korean Suppliers for Atlas, With 10,000-Robot Preparations Reported
• Boston Dynamics — Hyundai Mobis Forms Strategic Collaboration Framework with Boston Dynamics
• Hyundai Motor Group — Hyundai Motor Group Announces AI Robotics Strategy to Lead Human-Centered Robotics Era at CES 2026