Samsung and five affiliates put $1B into KKR-founded AI infrastructure firm Helix

Helix Digital Infrastructure, the AI infrastructure company KKR created earlier this year, has secured a $1 billion strategic investment from Samsung Electronics and five Samsung affiliates. Samsung Electronics is committing $500 million, while Samsung C&T, Samsung SDS, Samsung SDI, Samsung Life Insurance, and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance will provide the other $500 million. The investment, announced September 29, 2026, is not a conventional venture round; no series was disclosed.

Helix is building the physical backbone for AI: its mandate spans hyperscale data centers, power generation, transmission and distribution, and fiber connectivity. KKR, the Kuwait Investment Authority, Nvidia, and power producer Vistra launched the company in June with more than $10 billion in committed long-duration capital. Former AWS CEO Adam Selipsky leads Helix, with Nvidia as strategic technology partner and Vistra as preferred power partner. Samsung's new $1 billion pushes the capital available to the strategy above $11 billion.

The investment reflects a broader shift in how AI capacity gets built. Obtaining GPUs is only one part of the challenge; data centers also require land, electricity generation, grid connections, transmission, cooling, and fiber. Samsung gives Helix more than capital. Its affiliates cover semiconductors, construction, data-center operations, cooling systems, UPS and battery equipment, and financial services, making the investment look partly like vertical integration around the AI buildout.

The risks are equally large. Infrastructure returns depend on power availability, permitting, construction costs, hyperscaler demand, hardware cycles, and long-term utilization. But Samsung joining Nvidia, KKR, KIA, and Vistra suggests major industrial investors increasingly view AI infrastructure as a decade-long capital deployment opportunity rather than a short hardware cycle.