Blackstone to Invest in Korean Robotics Supplier Futronic

By Sherry Qin

Blackstone has agreed to invest in South Korean robotics supplier Futronic as it bets on physical robots as the next frontier of artificial intelligence.

Private-equity funds associated with Blackstone will make a "significant investment" in Futronic, the asset-management company said Monday, without disclosing the amount. Futronic's founder, Jin-ho Ko, will remain as chairman and chief executive, and work with Blackstone to accelerate the company's global growth, it said.

"Blackstone shares our vision of delivering advanced mechatronic solutions to our valued customers and partners, and their unique scale and global platform will help drive our expansion and solidify our leadership in actuation and motion control solutions," Ko said.

Futronic, founded in 1993, makes high-precision actuators for both the automotive and industrial robotics. More recently, the company has expanded into emerging areas of the mobility market, including humanoids and general robotics.

Eugene Cook, head of Korea at Blackstone Private Equity, said that Futronic's research and development and engineering capabilities position it well for rapid growth across the automotive and robotics markets.

Blackstone also sees Futronic's expertise in actuators and motion control becoming an important enabler as AI enters the physical world, said Kyungmin Song, principal at Blackstone Private Equity.

Write to Sherry Qin at sherry.qin@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 20, 2026 03:38 ET (07:38 GMT)