• Samsung and five affiliates are putting $1 billion into Helix Digital Infrastructure
• KKR founded Helix in June 2026, with Nvidia and Vistra among investors
• Helix will secure power capacity, which limits how quickly data centers open

Samsung and five affiliated businesses are committing $1 billion to Helix Digital Infrastructure, deepening the group’s involvement in the backbones of artificial intelligence.

Samsung Electronics will provide $500 million, while five other affiliates supply the remaining investment through the venture.

The commitment combines semiconductor expertise, cooling equipment, construction, computing services, batteries, and infrastructure financing within one corporate strategy.

Samsung brings multiple infrastructure capabilities together

Helix, established by KKR in June 2026, is intended to develop data centers while securing electricity and network connections

Its founding investors also include Nvidia, Kuwait Investment Authority, and US electricity company Vistra, adding financial and energy capabilities.

Samsung’s involvement extends beyond its financial commitment because several affiliated businesses can contribute technologies and services needed to develop and operate data centers.

Samsung Electronics contributes memory technology, and its FläktGroup subsidiary provides cooling systems for data centers.

Samsung C&T can handle major engineering and construction projects, with Samsung SDS developing data centers and providing rented GPU computing capacity.

Samsung SDI adds batteries for uninterrupted power systems, supporting facilities where servers must operate continuously without electricity interruptions.

The group therefore controls several functions that competitors would typically obtain from separate equipment manufacturers, contractors, technology providers, and infrastructure companies.

Samsung says the arrangement could help it move from supplying hardware toward participating directly in building artificial intelligence infrastructure.

Helix also plans to obtain power capacity, making electricity availability an important part of its proposed development model

That approach gives Samsung exposure to infrastructure requirements extending beyond processors, memory products, cooling equipment, and computing systems.

Huawei and SoftBank appear closest among rivals

Samsung’s breadth is a major advantage, and few rivals can compete with such an extensive combination of infrastructure capabilities.

Huawei is among the closest comparisons, with capabilities spanning Ascend processors, storage, networking, security, cooling equipment, and electricity infrastructure.

That range gives Huawei significant technical reach, although the company may not have a comparable $1 billion infrastructure commitment.

SoftBank also has semiconductor interests through Arm, Ampere Computing, and Graphcore, as well as plans for an artificial intelligence facility in Ohio.

Its combination of chip businesses and infrastructure ambitions gives it substantial reach, although matching Samsung would still require capabilities from multiple businesses.

Nokia offers networking products for artificial intelligence facilities and has attracted investment from Nvidia, but its role remains concentrated around connectivity technologies.

Ericsson’s work with SoftBank focuses on artificial intelligence applications for cellular networks rather than developing complete computing campuses and supporting infrastructure.

The difference is that Samsung can draw on affiliated businesses for capital, components, construction, cooling, computing, and battery systems within the same corporate group.

Huawei may be closest in technological range, while SoftBank has substantial semiconductor resources and growing ambitions around AI infrastructure, but neither company can combine these capabilities through affiliated businesses as extensively as Samsung does.