NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang made a surprise appearance at T-Mobile's Capital Markets Day, outlining a transformative vision for the telecommunications industry powered by AI.
Huang joined T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert in a fireside chat, where he announced the fusion of signal processing and AI. "This is going to be a great new growth opportunity for the telecommunications industry," Huang declared.
The discussion coincided with NVIDIA's launch of its AI Aerial platform, which integrates AI with radio access networks (AI-RAN). This technology aims to optimise network performance, efficiency, and unlock new revenue streams, such as AI-computing-as-a-service during periods of low network utilisation.
Huang emphasised the potential of AI-RAN to enhance signal quality across diverse environments. "We could teach these AI models how to optimise signal quality in hundreds of thousands of virtual cities," he explained.
The collaboration between NVIDIA and T-Mobile extends to the newly announced AI-RAN Innovation Center, developed in partnership with Ericsson and Nokia. This initiative is set to accelerate the commercialisation of AI-RAN technologies.
Sievert highlighted how virtualising RAN into the cloud will create new business opportunities, particularly in meeting the growing demand for compute power located close to customers.
Huang also stressed the importance of AI in making networks more energy-efficient. "We have to use AI to reduce energy consumption," he stated, explaining that NVIDIA's approach involves simulating AI models in virtual environments with accurate physics before real-world implementation.