Samsung Electronics, alongside its affiliates Samsung C&T, Samsung SDS, Samsung SDI, Samsung Life Insurance, and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, has announced a strategic investment totaling USD 1 billion in Helix Digital Infrastructure. Helix, an AI infrastructure company, was established by the global investment firm KKR.
Founded in June 2026, Helix specializes in AI-enabling infrastructure solutions that span across the entire value chain. The company’s offerings include hyperscale data center development and operations, power generation encompassing both baseload and flexible energy sources, transmission and distribution infrastructure, as well as fiber-optic networks.
Helix’s infrastructure allows hyperscalers to quickly acquire the large-scale systems necessary to meet the rapidly increasing demands of AI. Under the leadership of Adam Selipsky, former CEO of Amazon Web Services (AWS), Helix is assembling a management team of industry leaders from the data center and power sectors. The company benefits from KKR’s global infrastructure expertise, supported by a dedicated team of approximately 170 professionals.
In addition to Samsung and KKR, the founding investors in Helix include the Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA), NVIDIA, and US power company Vistra.
AI Data Centers as Fundamental Industrial Platforms
AI data centers are evolving from basic facility investments into central business platforms, integrating various high-value business models such as GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS), Sovereign AI, and colocation services.
The growth of these data centers is catalyzing the formation of a vast, multi-sector ecosystem that includes power generation, cooling technologies, semiconductors, and financial services. Samsung’s substantial investment reflects its strategic intent to achieve next-generation AI leadership within this emerging infrastructure landscape.
As AI services become more ingrained in daily life and global industries, the need for data centers capable of handling significant compute workloads is increasing exponentially. The power infrastructure required to support these operations has become a critical factor. Data centers may be the production centers of the AI era, but power is the essential fuel driving them. Therefore, securing both compute and power infrastructure concurrently is now a pivotal competitive advantage in the AI sector.
Helix’s investment strategy, targeting both data center deployment and the underlying power infrastructure, addresses this competitive dynamic. By acknowledging power availability as the primary bottleneck in AI infrastructure, Helix aims to secure energy capacity rapidly through direct investments and strategic partnerships with major energy developers, including investor Vistra.
Samsung’s Comprehensive Expertise in AI Infrastructure
Through this investment, Samsung Electronics and its affiliates plan to accelerate the global deployment of AI data centers with Helix, maximizing synergies among the participating entities.
- Device Solutions (DS) Division: Supports global expansion with advanced semiconductor solutions, adapting swiftly to changing global demands.
- Device eXperience (DX) Division: Provides a diverse portfolio of data center cooling products and solutions through FläktGroup, its subsidiary specializing in HVAC systems, offering global production and supply capabilities.
- Samsung C&T Engineering & Construction Group: Plays a key role as an EPC contractor in large-scale infrastructure projects related to data centers and power generation.
- Samsung SDS: Operates and constructs data centers, recently entering the GPUaaS business, and boasts low power usage effectiveness (PUE) in Korea.
- Samsung SDI: Known for its technology in uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) and battery backup units (BBUs), poised to explore new business opportunities with high-capacity battery technology essential for data centers.