South Korea’s Samsung and five affiliates will invest a combined $1 billion in Helix Digital Infrastructure, an AI-infrastructure company set up by private-equity firm KKR.

In separate statements on Tuesday, KKR and Samsung said the South Korean chaebol would join NVIDIA and others in funding the data centers and power behind the AI boom.

Samsung Electronics will provide $500 million, with Samsung C&T, Samsung SDS, Samsung SDI, Samsung Life Insurance and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance contributing the rest. The money goes into Helix through a long-term capital fund and adds to more than $10 billion committed at the company’s launch.

Launched in June 2026, Helix can deliver integrated infrastructure for hyperscalers across data center development and operations, power generation covering baseload and flexible sources, transmission and distribution, and fiber-optic networks. Its founding investors are KKR, the Kuwait Investment Authority, NVIDIA, and the U.S. power company Vistra.

Helix is backed by founding investors including KKR, the Kuwait Investment Authority, chipmaker NVIDIA, and U.S. power company Vistra.

Samsung highlighted the investment is a strategic move to expand from a hardware and component supplier into a larger role in AI infrastructure. Helix can explore using Samsung’s capabilities across advanced technology, construction, energy storage, and cooling.

Samsung said power availability was currently the greatest bottleneck in AI infrastructure, and that Helix planned to secure energy capacity through direct investments and partnerships with major energy developers, including Vistra. It said the ability to secure compute and power at the same time had become a defining advantage in the AI industry.

KKR has invested more than $75 billion across digital infrastructure and power globally, and about $9 billion across its strategies in Korea, a market it has been present in since 2009.

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