In a strategic move aimed at bolstering its standing in the realm of artificial intelligence (AI), Swiss telecommunications giant Swisscom has entered into a partnership with Nvidia. The collaboration, unveiled at the AI House Davos during the World Economic Forum, involves the creation of generative AI full-stack supercomputers utilizing Nvidia accelerators and AI software in Switzerland and Italy.
The primary objective of this collaboration is to develop standard, tailor-made, and innovative AI use cases for both customer-centric and internal applications. As part of the deal, Swisscom will invest up to 100 million Swiss Francs in these endeavors, underscoring the company’s commitment to advancing AI capabilities.
One noteworthy component of the partnership is the establishment of a ‘Trusted AI Factory,’ leveraging Nvidia’s global ecosystem to cater to the AI needs of Swiss customers. Christoph Aeschlimann, CEO of Swisscom, emphasized the role of the collaboration in bridging the technological possibilities with customer requirements. He stated, “We are building a high-performance infrastructure upon which we will create trustworthy services.”
Nvidia’s Keith Strier highlighted the increasing role of telecom operators as leaders in sovereign AI development, emphasizing the importance of a trusted, high-performance infrastructure in technological advancement.
Swisscom’s decision to collaborate with Nvidia also addresses concerns about the transparency of data handling in publicly available generative AI services. Aeschlimann noted, “Switzerland, with its many multinational organizations, needs trusted and unique sovereign building blocks for AI. That is where we step in, developing it in a reliable and secure manner, with a distinct Swiss flavor, hand in hand with NVIDIA.”
As part of the partnership, Swisscom will become a reseller of Nvidia products, including the Nvidia DGX platform and Nvidia GPUs. This collaboration builds upon Fastweb, Swisscom’s Italian subsidiary, purchasing 31 Nvidia DGX H100 systems last December for the development of Italy’s first large-scale Nvidia DGX AI-powered supercomputer.
The announcement comes amid discussions at Davos about the need for European corporate competitiveness. José María Álvarez-Pallete, Chairman and CEO of Telefónica, emphasized the urgency for the European Union to reconsider competition and regulation policies to foster prosperity in the evolving digital economy.
