Samsung Group to invest $1 bil. in AI infrastructure company Helix
Samsung Electronics' headquarters in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, July 30 / Yonhap
Korean conglomerate Samsung Group said Tuesday it will invest a combined $1 billion in Helix Digital Infrastructure, a U.S. artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure company backed by private equity firm KKR & Co.
Six affiliates — Samsung Electronics, Samsung C&T, Samsung SDS, Samsung SDI, Samsung Life Insurance and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance — will participate in the investment, Samsung said in a statement.
Samsung Electronics will invest $500 million, while the other five affiliates will invest a combined $500 million.
Helix was launched in June by KKR, the Kuwait Investment Authority, Nvidia and U.S. power producer Vistra Corp., with more than $10 billion in committed long-term capital.
The company is led by Adam Selipsky, the former chief executive of Amazon Web Services. Nvidia is a strategic partner, while Vistra is Helix's preferred power partner.
The Samsung affiliates will join KKR, Nvidia, Vistra and the Kuwait Investment Authority as founding investors in Helix through the investment, Samsung said.
As the AI industry expands rapidly, the importance of infrastructure needed to support large-scale computing, including data centers, power supplies and cooling systems, has also grown.
Helix plans to address power availability, a key bottleneck in AI infrastructure development, through its own investments and its partnership with Vistra.
Through the investment, Samsung said it plans to seek synergies by linking the technologies and business capabilities of its affiliates with Helix's infrastructure business.