Nvidia And SoftBank Unveil World’s First AI-driven 5G Telecom Network

Nvidia and SoftBank Corporation declared the launch of the world’s first telecom network capable of running artificial intelligence (AI) and 5G tasks simultaneously. The companies have coined this network as an ‘artificial intelligence radio access network’ (AI-RAN), representing a new era in telecommunications.

The AI-RAN network, a collaboration between the chipmaking giant Nvidia and the telecommunications arm of SoftBank Group, integrates AI workloads directly with 5G capabilities. This dual-function network is expected to bring about major advancements in areas such as autonomous vehicle support, remote-controlled robotics and potentially many more industrial applications. The innovative framework allows the network to handle massive data processing and real-time decision-making, elevating the potential for AI-driven solutions across telecom and enterprise sectors.

Speaking at an AI event, SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son described the project as an industry game-changer, stating that “every other telco will have to follow this new wave.” Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, confirmed that SoftBank was the first to implement Nvidia’s latest Blackwell chip designs, now part of an AI supercomputer that SoftBank is building to develop its own generative AI model.