Nokia and NVIDIA Launch World's First Commercial AI-Native RAN Platform

2026-07-16

On July 15, 2026, Nokia announced the industry's first commercial AI-native Radio Access Network (AI-RAN) platform. The platform is built on Nokia's AI-native anyRAN software and NVIDIA's Aerial AI-RAN platform, deeply integrating AI computing capabilities into radio access networks.

Technology Core

Nokia and NVIDIA Launch World's First Commercial AI-Native RAN Platform

Traditional RAN relied on dedicated hardware, with long upgrade cycles and high costs. Nokia's AI-RAN platform changes this paradigm by introducing NVIDIA CUDA and AI into the baseband system, transforming global radio access networks into a "planetary-scale AI computer." Nokia President and CEO Justin Hotard stated: "AI-RAN makes networks intelligent, extends AI to the physical world, and enables operators to extract more value from their existing infrastructure, including a software-upgradeable path to 6G."

In terms of performance, the platform has already achieved over 20% spectral efficiency improvement through AI-driven radio innovations. Nokia expects to reach 50% spectral gain at commercial launch in 2027, and exceed 100% by 2028 - meaning operators can double data transmission capacity on existing frequency bands without adding new spectrum resources.

Flexible Deployment and Software Subscription Model

To accommodate different operators' network evolution paths, Nokia offers three deployment options:

Existing AirScale customers can upgrade smoothly via GPU-driven capacity expansion plug-ins.
Operators requiring greater flexibility can choose standalone AI-RAN nodes supporting 4G, 5G, and future 6G workloads.
Operators embracing cloud-native transformation can opt for commercial off-the-shelf server solutions.

All options comply with Open RAN standards and can be deployed in multi-vendor environments.

Nokia has also introduced a software subscription model, allowing operators to obtain AI algorithm and performance enhancements through continuous software updates, without relying on costly hardware refresh cycles. The platform will begin pilot deployments by the end of 2026 and reach commercial availability in 2027.

$1 Billion Investment and 6G Roadmap

This product launch marks a major milestone in the strategic partnership between Nokia and NVIDIA. In October 2025, the two companies announced their strategic collaboration, with NVIDIA simultaneously taking a roughly 2.9% stake in Nokia through a $1 billion investment (at a subscription price of $6.01 per share). T-Mobile US, as the first partner, has been involved in 6G development and testing of AI-RAN technology.

As AI becomes a primary workload in mobile networks, the AI-RAN platform offers telecom operators a viable path to greater capacity, stronger economic benefits, and faster innovation without being tied to traditional hardware cycles.

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