NVIDIA to Invest $1 Billion in Nokia to Accelerate AI-RAN Innovation and Lead Transition from 5G to 6G<\/p>\n
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\n<\/ul>\n GTC Washington, D.C. — NVIDIA and Nokia today announced a strategic partnership to add NVIDIA-powered, commercial-grade AI-RAN products to Nokia\u2019s industry-leading RAN portfolio, enabling communication service providers to launch AI-native 5G-Advanced and 6G networks on NVIDIA platforms. NVIDIA will also invest $1 billion in Nokia at a subscription price of $6.01 per share. The investment is subject to customary closing conditions.<\/p>\n The partnership marks the beginning of the AI-native wireless era, providing the foundation to support AI-powered consumer experiences and enterprise services at the edge.<\/p>\n In addition, the partnership addresses the fast-growing AI-RAN market, representing a significant opportunity within the RAN market that is expected to exceed a cumulative $200 billion by 2030, according to analyst firm Omdia<\/a>1.<\/p>\n Together, NVIDIA and Nokia are also laying the strategic infrastructure and opening up a new high-growth frontier for telecom providers by delivering distributed edge AI inferencing at scale.<\/p>\n T-Mobile U.S. will collaborate with Nokia and NVIDIA to drive and test AI-RAN technologies as a part of the 6G innovation and development process, reinforcing its global leadership in driving wireless innovation. Trials are expected to begin in 2026, focused on field validation of performance and efficiency gains for customers.<\/p>\n The move will enable massive improvements in performance and efficiency, helping ensure that consumers using generative, agentic and physical AI applications on their devices will have seamless network experiences. It will also support future AI-native devices, such as drones or augmented- and virtual-reality glasses, while being ready for 6G applications such as integrated sensing and communications.<\/p>\n \u201cTelecommunications is a critical national infrastructure \u2014 the digital nervous system of our economy and security,\u201d said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. \u201cBuilt on NVIDIA CUDA and AI, AI-RAN will revolutionize telecommunications \u2014 a generational platform shift that empowers the United States to regain global leadership in this vital infrastructure technology. Together with Nokia and America\u2019s telecom ecosystem, we\u2019re igniting this revolution, equipping operators to build intelligent, adaptive networks that will define the next generation of global connectivity.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe next leap in telecom isn\u2019t just from 5G to 6G \u2014 it\u2019s 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. Our partnership with NVIDIA, and their investment in Nokia, will accelerate AI-RAN innovation to put an AI data center into everyone\u2019s pocket,\u201d said Justin Hotard, President and CEO of Nokia. \u201cWe\u2019re proud to drive this industry transformation with NVIDIA, Dell Technologies, and T-Mobile U.S., our first AI-RAN deployments in T-Mobile\u2019s network will ensure America leads in the advanced connectivity that AI needs.\u201d<\/p>\n Supporting Exponential Growth in AI traffic<\/strong> With Nokia and NVIDIA-powered AI-RAN systems<\/a>, mobile operators can improve performance and efficiency as well as enhance network experiences for future generative and agentic AI applications and experiences. They will be able to introduce new AI services for 6G with the same infrastructure, powering billions of new connections for drones, cars, robots and augmented- and virtual-reality glasses that demand connectivity, computing and sensing at the edge.<\/p>\n
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\nGrowth in AI traffic is exploding. For example, almost 50% of ChatGPT\u2019s 800 million weekly active users access the site via mobile devices, and its monthly mobile app downloads exceed 40 million.<\/p>\n