According to sources familiar with the matter, KKR's newly established $10 billion AI investment vehicle, Helix Digital Infrastructure, has completed the recruitment of its first two senior executives following the appointment of former Amazon Web Services (AWS) CEO Adam Selipsky as its chief executive. The investment initiative counts Nvidia among its backers.
Insiders reveal that the company has brought on Jonathan Lin, former Chief Commercial Officer of Equinix, to lead data center strategy development and execution, while Kleber Costa, formerly Chief Commercial Officer of clean energy operations at power utility AES, will head Helix's power and energy operations. This hiring spree comes as data center developers, technology giants, and investment firms compete fiercely to secure talent with expertise in building and operating large-scale computing and power infrastructure.
According to those familiar with the matter, both new executives have officially assumed their roles as Executive Vice Presidents this week, reporting directly to Selipsky, who served as AWS CEO until mid-2024. Helix was established by KKR earlier this year with the goal of investing in and developing infrastructure for large AI cloud clients. Alongside Nvidia, its principal investors include power company Vistra Energy and the Kuwait Investment Authority.
Helix positions itself as a one-stop gateway for major cloud service providers. Previously, cloud companies had to coordinate with a fragmented group of small and medium-sized developers to secure both computing and power resources simultaneously. Management at Helix states that the company will not build large data centers and power projects entirely from scratch, but rather accelerate its business through the acquisition of projects stalled due to insufficient financing or grid connection issues.
Helix is targeting two categories of data center assets: projects where existing investors lack sufficient capital to continue funding, and assets where investors wish to return cash to limited partners. The Information previously reported that the company had prepared a shortlist of acquisition targets by the end of June. The two new executives will help Helix deploy this substantial capital.
According to insiders, Jonathan Lin oversaw more than $30 billion in data center development investments during his tenure at Equinix, with completed M&A transactions totaling over $10 billion. Lin was among the five highest-paid executives disclosed in Equinix's latest proxy filing, with total compensation approaching $7 million in 2025.
Both Equinix and AES have cultivated deep relationships with major cloud providers, resources that Helix needs for its business expansion. Equinix is a leading global data center operator and a Nasdaq-listed real estate investment trust (REIT), operating over 280 data centers across 77 markets worldwide, leasing computing room space to customers. Enterprise clients and cloud service providers can deploy their operations within the same data center, shortening network connections and improving access speeds.
AES, meanwhile, has signed gigawatt-scale power purchase agreements with tech giants including Amazon, Microsoft, and Google, including a 20-year power purchase agreement signed with Google in February to supply electricity to a new data center in Texas. AES is nearing completion of its privatization transaction. In March, an investment consortium led by BlackRock's Global Infrastructure Partners fund and EQT announced plans to acquire AES for $10.7 billion, with the deal expected to close later this year or in early 2027.
On September 1, Costa announced his departure from AES in a LinkedIn post, noting that he helped grow the company's US clean energy business fivefold, with total installed capacity of renewable energy, energy storage, and natural gas power generation across operational and under-construction projects surpassing 20 gigawatts.