SoftBank and NVIDIA have expanded their collaboration in AI-driven RAN technologies. During the NVIDIA AI Summit in Japan, they demonstrated the world’s first combined AI and 5G telecom network. This groundbreaking integration, known as AI-RAN, was showcased through a successful outdoor trial in Japan’s Kanagawa prefecture using the NVIDIA AI Aerial platform. This innovation marks a significant step toward tapping AI revenue streams for telecom operators.
This partnership aims to maximize infrastructure by running RAN and AI workloads together. Alex Jinsung Choi, from SoftBank, emphasized the importance of shared infrastructure to support AI applications while maintaining core network functions. He stated, “This is about making the most of what we have… to support AI applications while still managing our networks core functions.” This development opens doors to increased resource utilization and new revenue streams by hosting various AI applications on existing network platforms.
The SoftBank and NVIDIA collaboration claims to transform base stations into AI revenue assets. They estimate that telecom operators can potentially generate $5 in AI inference revenue from every $1 of capex invested in AI-RAN infrastructure. This suggests a return of up to 219% for every new AI-RAN server.
In addition to the AI-RAN endeavor, NVIDIA also highlighted progress with SoftBank’s AI supercomputer, DGX SuperPOD, which uses the new Blackwell platform. Announced in March, the platform boasts capabilities for performing AI tasks 30-times faster. SoftBank plans to leverage the SuperPOD for its AI business development and to bolster AI research at Japan’s academic and research entities.
Looking forward, SoftBank is set to employ the NVIDIA Grace Blackwell platform for its future supercomputer projects. This powerful system will be designed to handle extremely complex computing tasks. Furthermore, SoftBank intends to create an AI marketplace utilizing NVIDIA AI Enterprise software to cater to local AI computing needs.
NVIDIA’s CEO, Jensen Huang, expressed enthusiasm for the collaboration, stating, “With SoftBank’s significant investment in NVIDIA’s full-stack AI, Omniverse and 5G AI-RAN platforms, Japan is leaping into the AI industrial revolution.”
