Samsung Bets $6 Billion on AI's Plumbing: Helix Data Centres and Chip Substrates

Tuesday, 29 September 2026. Samsung has announced two big bets on the physical backbone of AI in the space of two days: $1 billion for data centre builder Helix, and roughly $5 billion for the chip substrates that sit inside AI servers. Here is what is going on.

Samsung puts $1 billion into KKR's Helix

Samsung Electronics and five affiliates will invest a combined $1 billion in Helix Digital Infrastructure, the AI infrastructure company launched by KKR in June and backed by Nvidia (Samsung Newsroom, CNBC, Yahoo Finance).

• Samsung Electronics is putting in $500 million. Samsung C&T, Samsung SDS, Samsung SDI, Samsung Life Insurance and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance are investing the rest.
• Helix builds hyperscale data centres along with the power generation, transmission and fibre networks they need.
• It is led by Adam Selipsky, the former chief executive of Amazon Web Services.
• Samsung joins founding investors KKR, the Kuwait Investment Authority, Nvidia and US power company Vistra. KKR says Helix already has more than $10 billion in committed funds (CNBC).
• Samsung plans to bring its expertise in chips, cooling, data centre construction and batteries to the partnership.
• Samsung Electronics shares rose 2.13% on Tuesday morning in Seoul, while the Kospi fell 0.53% (CNBC).

Samsung's announcement identifies power availability as the biggest bottleneck in AI infrastructure today, which is why Helix is pairing data centres with its own energy capacity.

Samsung Electro-Mechanics bets about $5 billion on AI chip substrates

Separately, Samsung Electro-Mechanics said it will invest about 6.78 trillion won (around $5 billion) to expand production of FCBGA substrates, the high-performance boards that connect AI accelerators and processors to the rest of a server (Samsung Electro-Mechanics, Maeil Business Newspaper).

• 4.27 trillion won goes to its Sejong site in South Korea, its largest-ever investment in a single product. Spending runs from September 2026 to May 2028, with mass production due to start in September 2028.
• About 2.51 trillion won goes to expanding its Vietnam plant, with operations due to begin by June 2030.
• Customers are helping fund the build-out and have given mid- to long-term volume commitments, which reduces the risk of building capacity nobody uses.

Sources

• Samsung Newsroom - Samsung to invest USD 1 billion in AI infrastructure company Helix
• CNBC - Samsung to inject $1 billion into Nvidia- and KKR-backed Helix
• Yahoo Finance - Samsung commits $1 billion to Helix Digital Infrastructure
• Samsung Electro-Mechanics - KRW 6.78 trillion FCBGA investment
• Maeil Business Newspaper - Samsung Electro-Mechanics to invest KRW 6.78 trillion