March 9, 2026 -
The telecom sector is divided on the radio access network (RAN) architecture for 5G Advanced and 6G.
By Pablo Valerio, EE Times
At the 2026 Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, the telecom industry confronted a pivotal question: how to integrate AI into wireless networks.
This debate is reflected in different strategic approaches: Nvidia supports the use of software-defined, distributed graphics processing units (GPUs), turning the network into a platform for both telecom and AI use cases. In contrast, Intel and Ericsson prefer a central processing unit (CPU)-based approach to manage network workloads while staying within power limits.
AI-RAN compute architecture
A key part of Nvidia’s strategy is the artificial intelligence radio access network (AI-RAN). Their hardware model uses the Aerial RAN Computer, which relies on Nvidia GPUs to handle both regular network functions and AI tasks.