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Seoul (AP) - Excitement about a possible partnership between the US tech giant Apple and the car company Hyundai: According to a report by the Bloomberg news agency, in which the South Koreans confirmed talks between the two companies, the shares of Hyundai on the stock exchange in Seoul almost shot up a quarter up.
Then Hyundai rowed back publicly: Various companies had asked for talks about the development of autonomous electric cars.
The discussions are at an early stage and there are no decisions.
There was no longer any talk of Apple as a specific possible partner.
The euphoria of the investors in the VW rival could only slow it down a little, the Hyundai share ended trading with a good 19 percent plus.
The stock market value of the group rose to 55.7 trillion South Korean won (41.6 billion euros) - an increase of 6.6 billion euros.
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The business newspaper Korea Economic Daily had previously reported on its TV station that Apple wanted to work with Hyundai on the development and construction of a self-driving electric car.
According to the report, Apple is targeting the launch of the car in 2027.
In the past few weeks there had been more rumors and speculation about an Apple car.
Apple is considered to be extremely sensitive in its business relationships when suppliers or partners want to publicly name the company, for example as a customer.
In the case of significant collaborations, discussions about contracts and partnerships tend to be held behind closed doors anyway, without explicitly naming negotiating partners before the results are announced.
A possible entry by Apple into the construction of cars or the development of the technology for them has been closely monitored by the industry for years.
Given the size, financial strength, and development resources, a Californian entry could disrupt the industry, experts estimate.
However, it is questionable whether Apple would actually get involved in the actual construction itself or through partnerships, or whether it would only contribute software and other technology.
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Apple wouldn't be the first tech company with aspirations in the auto world.
The Google sister company Waymo is considered to be a leader in the development of software for self-driving cars.
The retail and cloud service giant Amazon has invested in the start-up Aurora and taken over the robot car developer Zoox.
The driving service broker Uber, on the other hand, recently dropped out of robo-car development and sold its division to Aurora.
The development of technology for autonomous driving is considered to be very costly and time-consuming.
Volkswagen invested billions in an alliance with the US automaker Ford in the developer Argo AI.
Daimler is working with the US chip specialist Nvidia, BMW is working with Intel and its camera software specialist Mobileye on corresponding systems.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210108-99-942660 / 2