INFRA

Helix launches with $10B+ in funding to build AI infrastructure

An investor consortium today launched a venture called Helix Digital Infrastructure Inc. to build artificial intelligence data centers for hyperscaler cloud providers.

The company’s backers include KKR, the Kuwait Investment Authority, Nvidia Corp. and Vistra Corp., a major energy utility. The group has provided Helix with more than $10 billion worth of long-term capital commitments. The company plans to bring in additional investors down the line.

Helix is led by former Amazon Web Services Inc. Chief Executive Officer Adam Selipsky. Waldemar Szlezak, the global head of digital infrastructure at KKR, is the company’s chief investment officer.

The company plans to build data centers using Nvidia DSX, an expansive suite of technologies for building large-scale AI clusters. It includes blueprints that describe how to integrate the chipmaker’s graphics cards with third-party hardware. A simulation tool enables engineers to test their data center designs before deploying them. Another software component, DSX OS, automates several day-to-day infrastructure maintenance tasks.

Helix has named Nvidia as a strategic partner. The chipmaker will help it with AI infrastructure deployment tasks. Vistra, the energy company that contributed to Helix’s 10-figure funding haul, will be its preferred power provider. The utility operates electricity generation facilities with aggregate capacity of about 44 gigawatts.

Helix’s strategy is to position itself as a one-stop-shop infrastructure provider. It will invest in not only data centers but also fiber-optic network links, energy infrastructure and related assets. Helix’s energy investments will span electricity generation facilities and transport infrastructure such as power lines.

“Large users of digital infrastructure have an urgent need to reduce complexity and unlock new capacity,” said Selipsky. “Helix combines significant long-term capital with the capabilities and expertise to deliver holistic AI infrastructure solutions with speed and scale.”

The decision to launch the venture may have partly been motivated by the string of multibillion-dollar deals that AI data center builders signed in the past year. 

In April, CoreWeave Holdings Inc. won a $21 billion contract to provide cloud capacity for Meta Platforms Inc. through 2032. A few weeks earlier, Nebius Group NV inked a similar $27 billion infrastructure deal with the Facebook parent. Microsoft Corp., meanwhile, has committed to purchasing $14.7 billion worth of graphics card capacity from Nscale Global Holdings Ltd.

CoreWeave not only builds infrastructure for hypescalers but also operates its own public cloud. Helix may take a similar approach. Additionally, it’s possible the company will seek to use its considerable capital pool to develop custom data center technologies that can give it a technical edge over rivals.

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