Samsung affiliates to invest $1bn in AI infrastructure firm Helix
Samsung Electronics Co. and five other Samsung affiliates will invest a combined $1 billion in Helix Digital Infrastructure, a U.S. artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure company established by global investment firm KKR & Co. Inc.
According to Samsung Group on Tuesday, Samsung Electronics will invest $500 million, while Samsung C&T Corp., Samsung SDS Co., Samsung SDI Co., Samsung Life Insurance Co. and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance Co. will invest a combined $500 million.
Helix, launched in June, provides integrated AI infrastructure ranging from the development and operation of hyperscale data centers to power generation, transmission and distribution, optical communications, and networking.
The company is led by Adam Selipsky, a former chief executive officer of Amazon Web Services Inc., and has a management team with experience in data centers, digital infrastructure and energy. Helix also has access to more than 170 infrastructure professionals at KKR.
The Samsung affiliates will join KKR, Nvidia Corp., Vistra Corp. and the Kuwait Investment Authority as founding investors in Helix.
The investment comes as rapid growth in AI drives demand for data centers and the power and cooling infrastructure needed to operate them. Helix is seeking to secure power through its own investments and a partnership with Vistra, its preferred power provider.
Samsung said the investment will allow its affiliates to connect their respective businesses with Helix’s AI infrastructure operations.
Samsung Electronics’ Device Solutions division supplies advanced semiconductors, while its Device eXperience division is expanding its data-center cooling business through Fl?ktGroup, which it acquired last year.
Samsung C&T’s construction division provides engineering, procurement and construction services for data centers and power facilities. Samsung SDS provides data-center design, construction and operations services and has expanded into graphics processing unit-as-a-service (GPUaaS).
Samsung SDI plans to pursue business opportunities involving uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems and battery backup units (BBUs) used to provide stable power to data centers.
The six Samsung affiliates said they will work with Helix and its global partners to pursue opportunities across the AI infrastructure sector and participate in the development of the global AI data-center ecosystem.