NVIDIA and Nokia partner on AI-RAN to drive 6G evolution
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NVIDIA and Nokia have announced a major strategic partnership focused on AI-RAN innovation, backed by a $1 billion NVIDIA investment to accelerate AI-powered 5G-Advanced and future 6G networks. The initiative aims to bring intelligence closer to the edge of mobile networks, enabling operators to handle next-generation AI workloads efficiently.
The deal highlights a major shift in RAN system architecture and silicon adoption. It signals emerging compute opportunities across base stations, edge infrastructure, and cloud-to-RAN interoperability.
Strategic collaboration targets AI-native 5G and 6G
Under the agreement, Nokia will introduce AI-RAN products powered by NVIDIA’s newly announced Aerial RAN Computer Pro (ARC-Pro), a 6G-ready telecom computing platform that blends radio access, compute acceleration, and sensing capabilities. NVIDIA will take a stake in Nokia at $6.01 per share, pending closing conditions.
The companies are positioning the partnership as a catalyst for large-scale commercialization of AI in mobile networks. Analyst firm Omdia estimates the AI-RAN market could exceed $200 billion cumulatively by 2030, driven by increasing AI application traffic on mobile devices and rising demand for edge inference.
“Telecommunications is a critical national infrastructure — the digital nervous system of our economy and security,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. “Built on NVIDIA CUDA and AI, AI-RAN will revolutionize telecommunications — a generational platform shift that empowers the United States to regain global leadership in this vital infrastructure technology.”
Nokia CEO Justin Hotard added: “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 data center all the way to the edge.”
T-Mobile joins early testing; Dell supplies server backbone
T-Mobile U.S. will collaborate with Nokia and NVIDIA to trial AI-RAN features starting in 2026 as part of its 6G development roadmap. The carrier will validate how AI-driven RAN processing may improve performance and energy efficiency in real-world deployments.
“With America’s best network, T-Mobile remains committed to advancing next-generation technologies that redefine the customer experience,” said John Saw, T-Mobile’s CTO. “Beginning in 2026, T-Mobile will conduct field evaluations and testing of advanced AI-RAN technologies to ensure they meet the evolving needs of our customers as we move toward 6G.”
Dell Technologies will support the platform using PowerEdge servers designed for scalable and remote-update operations, enabling operators to upgrade RAN functionality primarily through software rather than full hardware replacement.
Toward distributed edge AI processing
The partners aim to enable networks where AI processing happens both centrally and at edge nodes — such as base stations or local data centers — reducing latency and supporting new device categories like AR/VR glasses, drones, robots, and autonomous vehicles.
The ARC-Pro platform and Nokia’s anyRAN architecture are designed to let operators migrate from today’s RAN deployments to fully AI-native networks via incremental upgrades rather than wholesale equipment swaps. This includes expanding Nokia AirScale baseband systems with new AI-enhanced processing cards.
Additional cooperation will extend to data center switching and optical networking, using Nokia’s SR Linux with NVIDIA’s Spectrum-X Ethernet platform.
As operators look to monetize edge compute while preparing for 6G, the NVIDIA-Nokia partnership positions AI-RAN as a competitive lever — particularly where energy efficiency and latency-sensitive AI applications are becoming critical.
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