NVIDIA and Nokia have announced a strategic cooperation to integrate NVIDIA-backed AI-RAN products into Nokia’s RAN portfolio for AI-native 5G-Advanced and 6G networks on NVIDIA platforms. As part of the deal, the chipmaker will also invest $1 billion in Nokia at $6.01 per share.
“This milestone partnership begins the start of an AI-native wireless era,” the companies have declared. The deal is expected to lay the foundation for backing AI-powered user experiences and enterprises.
Both tech giants are rolling out infrastructure for operators by delivering “distributed edge AI inferencing at scale.”
T-Mobile US will also collaborate with the two to operate AI-RAN tech for its future 6G innovation. The trials will begin in 2026, which will focus on validation and performance for customers.
The companies have said that their collaboration will result in “massive improvements in performance and efficiency” and ensure that using generative, agentic, and physical AI applications will have seamless network experiences. It will also support future AI-native devices such as drones, AR, VR glasses, etc.
“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. 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.”
“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,” said Justin Hotard, President and CEO of Nokia. “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.”
Nokia share rises all time with NVIDIA deal
The deal with NVIDIA has raised Nokia’s share to all time high. The company’s share has risen by a record 21%. The deal has it that NVIDIA will inject $1 billion for 2.9% stake in the Finnish firm.
Grow AI traffic further
Nokia and NVIDIA-powered AI-RAN systems will further help the growth in AI traffic. Operators will see performance and efficiency for AI applications and experiences. They are also said to introduce AI services for 6G and power drones, cars, robots, and AR, VR glasses, etc.
A cost-effective path to 6G
Nokia and NVIDIA’s AI-RAN platform will unify AI and radio access on software-determined infrastructure and will boost performance, efficiency, and monetization, enabling a cost-effective path to 6G. New capabilities will be added through software patches too and enable innovation cycles at the pace of AI.
“With America’s best network, T-Mobile remains committed to advancing next-generation technologies that redefine the customer experience,” said John Saw, president of technology and chief technology officer at T-Mobile. “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.”
“The telecommunications industry owns the most valuable real estate for AI — the edge, where data is created,” said Michael Dell, chairman and chief executive officer of Dell Technologies. “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.”
The two partners- NVIDIA and Nokia will also explore using Nokia’s optical technologies and capabilities for future NVIDIA AI infrastructure architecture.