NVIDIA and Nokia announced a strategic partnership to develop and deploy the world’s first AI-native 6G platform, combining NVIDIA’s accelerated computing and AI expertise with Nokia’s industry-leading radio access network (RAN) technology. The collaboration will deliver next-generation AI-RAN systems to power the evolution from 5G to 6G and enable operators to launch intelligent, adaptive, and efficient mobile networks.
As part of the agreement, NVIDIA will invest $1 billion in Nokia at a subscription price of $6.01 per share, subject to customary closing conditions. The investment and partnership signify a significant step toward advancing AI-driven telecommunications infrastructure and establishing the foundation for America’s leadership in the 6G era.
The collaboration introduces NVIDIA Arc Aerial RAN Computer (ARC-Pro), a 6G-ready computing platform designed to unify connectivity, computing, and sensing capabilities across the mobile network. Nokia will integrate this platform into its AI-RAN portfolio, enabling communication service providers to deploy AI-native 5G-Advanced and 6G networks powered by NVIDIA technology.
The partnership also includes T-Mobile U.S., which will collaborate with Nokia and NVIDIA to test and deploy AI-RAN technologies as part of its 6G innovation and development program. Field trials are expected to begin in 2026, focusing on validating performance, efficiency, and improvements in the customer experience. Dell Technologies will support the initiative by providing PowerEdge servers to deliver high-performance compute infrastructure for the AI-RAN platform.
NVIDIA and Nokia’s joint vision addresses the rapidly growing AI-RAN market, projected by Omdia to exceed $200 billion in cumulative revenue by 2030. The companies aim to enable telecom operators to deliver AI-powered consumer and enterprise services at the edge while supporting future technologies such as generative AI, extended reality, autonomous drones, and integrated sensing and communications systems.
The partnership introduces a comprehensive framework for distributed edge AI inference, integrating thousands of edge nodes to process data closer to their sources. This will allow telecommunications providers to manage the surging growth of AI-driven traffic—particularly from generative and agentic applications—while improving efficiency, reducing latency, and ensuring compliance with data sovereignty regulations.
Nokia’s anyRAN architecture, combined with NVIDIA’s accelerated computing, provides a seamless software-defined evolution path from today’s RAN networks to AI-powered 5G-Advanced and 6G systems. Nokia’s AirScale baseband technology, enhanced with AI-RAN capabilities, allows existing network hardware to coexist with new generations of AI-enabled systems, offering a cost-efficient transition for operators.
Dell Technologies’ PowerEdge servers play a critical role in the new AI-RAN solution, enabling zero-touch software upgrades, low-touch silicon updates, and seamless scalability across carrier-grade environments. Together, these capabilities ensure network operators can deliver reliable, efficient, and future-ready connectivity while reducing energy consumption and infrastructure costs.
Nokia and NVIDIA will also collaborate on AI networking solutions, combining Nokia’s SR Linux software and telemetry management systems with NVIDIA Spectrum-X Ethernet networking for advanced AI infrastructure. The companies will further explore integrating Nokia’s optical technologies within NVIDIA’s data center and AI architecture roadmap.
KEY QUOTES:
“Telecommunications is a critical national infrastructure — the digital nervous system of our economy and security. 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. 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.”
Jensen Huang, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, NVIDIA
“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. Our partnership with NVIDIA, and their investment in Nokia, will accelerate AI-RAN innovation to put an AI data center into everyone’s pocket. We’re proud to drive this industry transformation with NVIDIA, Dell Technologies, and T-Mobile U.S., our first AI-RAN deployments in T-Mobile’s network will ensure America leads in the advanced connectivity that AI needs.”
Justin Hotard, President and Chief Executive Officer, Nokia
“With America’s best network, T-Mobile remains committed to advancing next-generation technologies that redefine the customer experience. Our collaboration with industry leaders Nokia and NVIDIA marks an important step toward shaping the future of connectivity as we develop the innovations that will power the 6G era. Building on the foundation established by the AI-RAN Innovation Center in 2024, this strategic initiative reinforces T-Mobile’s leadership in driving the U.S. wireless industry forward. 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.”
John Saw, President of Technology and Chief Technology Officer, T-Mobile
“The telecommunications industry owns the most valuable real estate for AI — the edge, where data is created. This AI-RAN collaboration with Nokia and NVIDIA makes that potential real. We’ve built some of the world’s largest AI clusters with 100,000+ GPUs. Now we’re applying that expertise to distribute intelligence across millions of edge nodes. The operators who modernize their infrastructure today won’t just carry AI traffic — they’ll be the distributed AI grid factories that process it at the source, where latency matters and data sovereignty is critical.”
Michael Dell, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Dell Technologies
