NEW YORK (Reuters) -BlackRock Inc, the world's largest asset manager, is looking for opportunities to expand its technology capabilities including in the area of artificial intelligence, its chief operating officer said on Tuesday.

"There's always pockets of capabilities that you can improve upon," said BlackRock COO Rob Goldstein, speaking in an interview at the Reuters NEXT conference in New York.

Goldstein pointed to particular opportunities in AI.

"In this world of artificial intelligence, I think there's a lot more you can do with regard to not only data, but importantly automating a lot of processes," Goldstein said.

BlackRock, which manages $11.5 trillion in assets, which struck nearly $30 billion in acquisitions this year.

Last week, it unveiled plans to buy private credit firm HPS Investment Partners for about $12 billion.

The HPS deal comes after BlackRock in October finalized its $12.5 billion acquisition of infrastructure investment firm Global Infrastructure Partners, while it anticipates completing the $3.2 billion purchase of private markets data provider Preqin by year-end.

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