Samsung Affiliates Invest USD 1 Billion in KKR-Backed AI Infrastructure Firm Helix

Who is investing and what Helix does

Samsung Electronics, Samsung C&T, Samsung SDS, Samsung SDI, Samsung Life Insurance and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance announced the combined USD 1 billion investment. Samsung Electronics is putting in USD 500 million, while five other affiliates are investing the rest.

Helix launched in June 2026. It is described as an AI-enabling infrastructure provider designed to deliver integrated solutions across the whole value chain. That includes hyperscale data center development and operations, power generation (both baseload and flexible energy sources), transmission and distribution infrastructure, and fiber-optic networks. According to Samsung, hyperscalers can use Helix to rapidly secure the large-scale, comprehensive infrastructure needed to keep pace with growing AI demand.

Helix is led by Adam Selipsky, former CEO of Amazon Web Services, and is assembling a management team of experts from the data center and power industries. It also draws on KKR's global infrastructure business, which has about 170 dedicated professionals. Alongside Samsung, KKR, the Kuwait Investment Authority, NVIDIA and US power company Vistra are founding investors.

Power as the bottleneck

Samsung argues that AI data centers are evolving beyond simple facility investments into core business platforms. They now combine business models such as GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS), Sovereign AI and colocation services. Their expansion is driving a multi-sector ecosystem spanning power generation, cooling technologies, semiconductors and finance.

The company says power availability is currently the greatest bottleneck in AI infrastructure. In its words, "If data centers are the production hubs of the AI era, power is the fuel that drives them." Securing compute and power at the same time has become a defining competitive advantage, Samsung says. Helix plans to secure energy capacity quickly through direct investments and strategic partnerships with major energy developers, including investor Vistra.

What Samsung brings across the stack

Samsung points to the capabilities of its affiliates as a basis for future cooperation with Helix:

• Device Solutions (DS) Division: supplies semiconductor solutions for the global buildout.
• Device eXperience (DX) Division: offers data center cooling products, from air cooling systems to coolant distribution units for liquid cooling, through FläktGroup, its data center HVAC subsidiary acquired in 2025. It operates 14 production sites worldwide and a supply and service network across 65 countries.
• Samsung C&T: works as an engineering, procurement and construction contractor on data center and power generation projects.
• Samsung SDS: designs, builds and operates data centers and has recently entered the GPUaaS business. It says it has the lowest power usage effectiveness level in Korea, applied to its own data centers and the Korea AI Computing Center.
• Samsung SDI: is recognized for uninterruptible power supplies and battery backup units, and plans to explore new business opportunities in this field.

What it means for Samsung

Samsung describes the investment as a pivotal milestone that lets its affiliates use their hardware and component expertise to build influence at the system and infrastructure level. The company says it is poised to expand from a traditional hardware component supplier to an active architect of the global AI infrastructure ecosystem.

Through the deal, Samsung Electronics and its affiliates say they aim to accelerate global AI data center deployment alongside Helix and to maximize collaborative synergies among the participating companies. The announcement does not detail specific projects, timelines or financial terms beyond the investment amounts.