Joining forces with European and American giants like Nokia and Cisco, NVIDIA aims to "define" 6G, with the goal of "integrating AI into telecommunications"

NVIDIA is extending its AI infrastructure strategy to global telecommunications networks, betting that AI-native platforms will become the core architecture of the 6G era.

On the eve of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, NVIDIA announced a partnership with global telecom and infrastructure giants including Nokia, Cisco, Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile, BT Group, and Booz Allen Hamilton, committing to building 6G networks on open, secure AI-native platforms.

NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang stated on Sunday, “AI is redefining computing and driving the largest infrastructure build in human history — the telecommunications industry will be next.”

The core of this collaboration is the AI-RAN (Artificial Intelligence Radio Access Network) technology roadmap. T-Mobile CEO Srini Gopalan said, “As 6G becomes the backbone of the AI era, telecommunications will serve as the nervous system of the digital economy, supporting the large-scale operation of autonomous systems and intelligent industries.” 6G is expected to be commercially available around 2030, with initial trials starting as early as 2028.

Accelerating AI-RAN commercialization, multiple operators join in

NVIDIA is not only making strategic declarations but also announcing new AI-RAN commercial collaborations with T-Mobile, SoftBank, and Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison, moving the technology from labs to actual deployment.

The ecosystem built around NVIDIA’s solutions is expanding, including ready-made systems from Quanta Cloud Technology, AI-optimized indoor and outdoor radio frequency units from WNC Corp., 4T4R O-RU from Eridan Communications, and integrated products from Lite-On Technology for Sub-6GHz and millimeter-wave bands. This hardware ecosystem provides feasible options for operators to deploy high-capacity, short-range wireless networks in dense urban scenarios.

From a technological evolution perspective, the current 5G Advanced phase will serve as a transitional bridge, enabling operators with more programmable capabilities via software-defined networking, and leveraging AI and machine learning to improve efficiency and coverage, laying the foundation for the eventual transition to 6G.

Autonomous network vision: making telecom networks “self-operating”

On the software front, NVIDIA has proposed a long-term goal of “autonomous networks” — telecom networks that can self-manage and operate like intelligent machines. To achieve this, NVIDIA believes large language models and reasoning systems specifically designed for telecom scenarios are needed, enabling networks to coordinate across nodes and verify operational decisions through simulation tools.

In this announcement, NVIDIA released a large telecom model (LTM) based on the Nemotron framework, along with a guide for building intelligent agents for network operations workflows and an operational blueprint, covering scenarios such as energy efficiency, multi-agent orchestration, network configuration, and advanced autonomous capabilities.

NVIDIA emphasizes that the Nemotron framework adopts an open architecture, providing telecom operators with full transparency into model training processes and data sources, supporting secure and rapid local deployment within networks. Additionally, NVIDIA and Tech Mahindra jointly released an open-source guide to help operators fine-tune reasoning models for specific domains and build intelligent agent workflows for network operation centers.

6G: The next battleground for physical AI

The deeper logic behind NVIDIA’s layout lies in the intersection of 6G and physical AI. NVIDIA believes that 6G wireless networks will accelerate the development of physical AI, enabling millions of autonomous machines, sensors, vehicles, and robots to interact with the real world in real time.

This view aligns with NVIDIA’s overall strategic direction — from data center GPUs to autonomous driving platforms, NVIDIA is systematically integrating AI computing power into various physical infrastructures. If telecom networks can become AI-native infrastructure, it will provide NVIDIA with new growth drivers in the next technological cycle.

While the commercial window for 6G is still several years away, the formation of this alliance indicates that the race for dominance over 6G standards and architecture has already begun. NVIDIA aims to leverage AI-RAN as an entry point to gain an early advantage in this competition.

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