사진 확대
The decision by six Samsung affiliates—including Samsung Electronics, Samsung C&T, Samsung SDS, Samsung SDI, Samsung Life Insurance and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance—to invest in Helix Digital Infrastructure (Helix), an artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure company established by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), is part of an effort to gain an early lead in core AI infrastructure. Samsung Group’s AI strategy is to move beyond being a simple supplier of AI infrastructure components and directly participate in building an infrastructure ecosystem.
Unlike traditional data centers, AI data centers (AIDCs) are evolving into core platforms that support a range of business models, including GPU cloud services (GPUaaS), sovereign AI and colocation, or server-space leasing. As NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang has described AIDCs as “AI factories,” they serve as critical infrastructure in the AI era, generating revenue by producing “tokens,” the computational units that power AI.
◆ $5 Trillion in Global Investment by 2030
The expansion of AIDCs is also creating a new industrial ecosystem spanning power, cooling, semiconductors and finance. As AI services spread throughout daily life and across industries, the importance of data centers capable of handling vast amounts of computing and the power needed to operate them reliably is growing in tandem.
McKinsey & Company forecasts that global AIDC capacity will more than triple, from approximately 44 gigawatts (GW) in 2025 to 156 GW in 2030. As a result, it expects total AI infrastructure investment—including semiconductors, data centers and power—to reach $5.2 trillion by 2030. In response, Samsung formed an energy task force at the group level this year and has been closely examining how its affiliates can participate in the power infrastructure ecosystem. Samsung C&T’s construction division and Samsung E&A are already involved in various energy infrastructure construction projects, including power plants and nuclear power facilities.
Helix differs from conventional AIDC development businesses in that it does more than develop and operate data centers. It also provides, in an integrated manner, the baseload and flexible power, transmission and distribution infrastructure, optical communications networks and other network infrastructure required by those facilities.
Vistra, a power company that invested in Helix, is one of the largest power producers in the United States. It supplies electricity to global technology giants such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Meta, and signs long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) based on reliable power sources needed by AIDCs, including nuclear and natural-gas generation. Analysts say Helix could give Samsung an opportunity to expand its energy business as well.
◆ Cooling and Batteries After Semiconductors and Substrates
Samsung has already established itself as a key supplier in the AIDC infrastructure supply chain. Samsung Electronics’ memory semiconductors and advanced chips produced by Samsung Electronics’ foundry business are essential components for AIDCs. Samsung Electro-Mechanics is also expanding its production facilities on a large scale to meet rising demand for AI infrastructure components, including AI package substrates and multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs).
In addition, data center cooling products and solutions based on FläktGroup, acquired by Samsung Electronics’ DX division, as well as Samsung SDI’s high-output, high-capacity battery technology, are expected to see increased demand as AIDC investment expands.
Samsung is also directly entering the AI infrastructure construction business. Samsung SDS plans to build a 60-megawatt AIDC in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province, with operations scheduled to begin in March 2029. The facility could eventually be expanded to approximately 120 MW. Through a consortium, Samsung SDS is also participating in the national AI computing center project planned for Solaseado in Haenam County, South Jeolla Province. The center is scheduled to begin operations in 2028 with an initial capacity of 40 MW and is expected to expand to approximately 80 MW over the long term. Global AI companies and hyperscalers, including OpenAI, could become potential customers of the AIDCs built and operated by Samsung SDS. Samsung C&T’s construction division is pursuing large-scale projects as an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor in the data center and power infrastructure sectors.
◆ Samsung Financial Firms Expand Global AI Investments
AI infrastructure investment is also expected to create new growth opportunities for Samsung’s financial affiliates. Their participation in global AI infrastructure investment projects could expand, beginning with KKR’s Helix. NVIDIA’s memorandum of understanding (MOU) last August with six financial firms—including BlackRock, Blackstone, Apollo and Goldman Sachs—to establish a financing platform for AI computing infrastructure also shows that AI infrastructure investment is emerging as a major new opportunity for financial and investment companies.
Samsung has invested not only in AI infrastructure but also in large language model (LLM) companies developing high-performance AI models. The aim is to strategically invest in LLM companies, the actual customers of AI infrastructure, and explore various future business opportunities in areas such as semiconductors and data centers.
Samsung Electronics participated in European AI company Mistral AI’s €3 billion Series D funding round early last September. In May, it also joined Anthropic’s $65 billion Series H funding round for the developer of Claude, and agreed to cooperate with the company as a strategic partner in the memory semiconductor sector.
[Reporter Lee Deok-joo]
This article has been translated by GripLabs Mingo AI.