NVIDIA forms coalition to build AI-native wireless infrastructure

NVIDIA said it formed a strategic collaboration with a coalition that included Nokia, Ericsson, T-Mobile and Deutsche Telekom to architect the next generation of AI-native wireless infrastructure, a development the release presented as relevant to forthcoming 6G planning.

The release said 6G/IMT 2030 would be AI-native and software-defined, allowing wireless networks to advance at the pace of development. It described a shift of legacy architectures toward software-defined, open and secure 6G platforms and said Artificial Intelligence (AI) would be embedded across the Radio Access Network (RAN), edge and core to provide a fabric for physical AI and to support large-scale autonomous systems and sensors.

NVIDIA outlined technical aims tied to an AI-RAN architecture and described a cloud-native software framework called the NVIDIA AI Aerial platform. The release said the platform converted fixed-function hardware into a programmable, multi-tenant infrastructure that RAN RAN and AI workloads simultaneously on NVIDIA-accelerated computing.

The coalition listed objectives that addressed AI-RAN integration by replacing fixed-function elements with AI-native architecture; architectural resilience through open and trusted principles to support interoperability and supply-chain security; integrated sensing and communication to enable real-time intelligence at the edge; and scalability to accommodate billions of autonomous endpoints requiring higher security and lower latency.

“AI is driving the largest infrastructure buildout in history, and telecommunications is the next frontier,” said Jensen Huang. “By building AI-RAN, we are transforming global telecom networks into a ubiquitous AI fabric.”

The release said realizing the vision depended on 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) specifying a 6G AI native, secure core network and on ITU-R WP 5D specifying an AI native RAN interface in forthcoming IMT 2030 RIT/SRITs in late 2030.