Summary
Samsung and five affiliates announced a combined $1 billion investment in Helix, a company developing infrastructure for AI data centres. Samsung Electronics will invest $500 million, with its five affiliates contributing the remainder.
Samsung Electronics and five other Samsung affiliates announced a combined investment of US$1 billion in Helix Digital Infrastructure, an AI infrastructure company established by investment firm KKR. Samsung Electronics will invest US$500 million; Samsung C&T, Samsung SDS, Samsung SDI, Samsung Life Insurance and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance will provide the remaining US$500 million collectively, according to Samsung’s September 29, 2026 announcement.
Helix is intended to bring several parts of AI infrastructure under one provider, from large data centres to the energy and network systems needed to operate them. The investment links Samsung’s semiconductor, cooling, construction, data-centre and battery businesses with Helix’s planned global build-out.
What Helix plans to build
Launched in June 2026, Helix is designed to cover the infrastructure chain for hyperscale data centres: developing and operating the facilities, arranging power generation from both baseload and flexible sources, and building transmission, distribution and fibre-optic networks. Hyperscalers—companies that operate large-scale cloud and computing services—could use this combined infrastructure to expand capacity.
Samsung says AI data centres are developing into broader business platforms that can include GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS), sovereign AI services and colocation, in which customers rent space and infrastructure in a data centre. These are examples of the wider market’s business models; the announcement describes Helix’s role primarily through its planned infrastructure offering.
Helix is led by Adam Selipsky, previously chief executive of Amazon Web Services, and is assembling a management team from the data-centre and power industries. KKR’s global infrastructure business, which Samsung says has about 170 dedicated professionals, is also involved. KKR, the Kuwait Investment Authority, NVIDIA and US power company Vistra are named as founding investors alongside Samsung.
Samsung identifies power access as a major constraint on expanding AI computing and says Helix plans to secure energy capacity through direct investment and partnerships with energy developers, including Vistra. This approach treats electricity supply, grid connections and computing facilities as parts of the same build-out rather than separate projects.
How Samsung’s businesses fit
The investment brings together capabilities from several parts of the Samsung group. Samsung Electronics’ semiconductor division supplies components for computing systems, while its device-experience division offers data-centre cooling equipment through FläktGroup, a specialist subsidiary Samsung says it acquired in 2025. The cooling portfolio spans air-cooling systems and coolant distribution units used in liquid-cooling installations.
Samsung C&T works as an engineering, procurement and construction contractor on data-centre and power projects. Samsung SDS designs, builds and operates data centres and has entered GPUaaS. Samsung SDI makes uninterruptible power supplies and battery backup units, which help keep servers running during interruptions to the main power supply.
Samsung presents the investment as a step beyond supplying individual components towards taking a role in the wider AI infrastructure ecosystem. The announcement sets out the participating businesses and Helix’s intended scope, but does not provide project-level capacity or deployment timelines.