Nvidia and Nokia have announced a strategic partnership to add the former’s artificial intelligence (AI)-powered radio access network (RAN) products to Nokia’s RAN portfolio, enabling communication service providers to launch AI-native 5G Advanced and 6G networks on Nvidia platforms.
The aim is to drive wireless innovation in performance and efficiency, ensuring consumers using generative, agentic and physical AI applications on their devices will have “seamless” network experiences. The companies say that by working together, they are laying the strategic infrastructure and opening up a high-growth frontier for telecom providers by delivering distributed edge AI inferencing at scale.
They said growth in AI traffic is exploding, noting that almost half of ChatGPT’s 800 million weekly active users access the site via mobile devices, and that its monthly mobile app downloads exceed 40 million.
With their AI-RAN systems, Nokia and Nvidia are confident that mobile operators can improve performance and efficiency as well as enhance network experiences for future generative AI and agentic AI applications and experiences. They will be able to introduce AI services for 6G with the same infrastructure, powering billions of new connections for cars, robots, drones, and augmented and virtual reality glasses that demand connectivity, computing and sensing at the edge.
Another aim of the partnership will aim to address the AI-RAN market, representing a significant opportunity in the RAN market that analyst Omdia predicts will be worth cumulatively in excess of $200bn by 2030.
As a result, the deal will see Nvidia introducing Aerial RAN Computer Pro (ARC-Pro), a 6G-ready accelerated computing platform that combines connectivity, computing and sensing capabilities, enabling telcos to move from 5G Advanced to 6G through software upgrades. Nokia will accelerate the availability of its 5G and 6G RAN software on the Nvidia Cuda platform and expand its RAN portfolio by embedding Nvidia ARC-Pro at the heart of the new AI-RAN service.
The partnership will also see Nvidia invest $1bn in Nokia to mark, said the companies, the beginning of the AI-native wireless era, providing the foundation to support AI-powered consumer experiences and enterprise services at the edge while being ready for 6G applications such as integrated sensing and communications. T-Mobile US will also collaborate with Nokia and Nvidia to drive and test AI-RAN technologies as part of a 6G innovation and development process.
Trials are expected to begin in 2026, focused on field validation of performance and efficiency gains for customers.
Commenting on the deal, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang described telecommunications as a critical national infrastructure, and “the digital nervous system” of the US economy and security.
“Built on Nvidia Cuda and AI, AI-RAN will revolutionise telecommunications, a generational platform shift that empowers the US to regain global leadership in this vital infrastructure technology,” he said. “Together with Nokia, and America’s telecom ecosystem, we’re igniting this revolution, equipping operators to build intelligent, adaptive networks that will define the next generation of global connectivity.”
Nokia president and CEO Justin Hotard said: “The next leap in telecom isn’t just from 5G to 6G – it’s a fundamental redesign of the network to deliver AI-powered connectivity, capable of processing intelligence from the datacentre all the way to the edge.
“Our partnership with Nvidia, and their investment in Nokia, will accelerate AI-RAN innovation to put an AI datacentre into everyone’s pocket,” he said. “We’re proud to drive this industry transformation with Nvidia, Dell Technologies and T-Mobile US; our first AI-RAN deployments in T-Mobile’s network will ensure America leads in the advanced connectivity that AI needs.”
