T-Mobile and Nvidia 6G push advocates open-source AI hardware and software

Nvidia is trying to wiggle into telecommunications hardware by pushing open-source connectivity for the next 6G mobile connectivity standard.

It is setting up a consortium together with T-Mobile, Nokia, and SoftBank with the stated goal to ensure that the upcoming 6G phone networks can support advanced AI applications.

In preparation for the next-gen 6G networks, Nvidia is trying to influence the standard in its favor by focusing on AI and advocating for open-source hardware and software to run it. Nvidia's growth hinges on the expansion of AI into every possible industry, like self-driving cars, robots, and anything else it can think of that will need even more AI data centers to run.

According to Nvidia's Ronnie Vasishta, head of Nvidia’s telecommunications strategy, the 6G telecom networks will have to be magnitudes more efficient due to the limited radio spectrum available for new applications. "Networks will deliver intelligence, not just for humans on their phones, but for machines," he argues, while the current 5G networks are only tuned to voice and data, as artificial intelligence applications weren't even on the radar when the standard was set.

Instead of relying on proprietary hardware, the 6G modems must be software-controlled and easy to update, running on general-purpose computers, while AI software should manage data traffic so that it can adapt quickly to any change in artificial intelligence capabilities and usage scenarios.

Nvidia bets that the 6G mobile network standard will be a game changer in terms of new connectivity applications and wants to be there with open-source hardware and software when AI startups that are hard to imagine at the moment leverage its abilities. The thing is that phones like the new Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra that is already 25% off on Amazon use modems from established players like Qualcomm that already tout their AI abilities.

It remains to be seen if Nvidia's self-serving initiative will bear fruit. Such consortiums have previously delivered mixed results that have slowed down the rollout of next-gen telecom technologies, resulting in incompatible hardware. Nvidia doesn't have a great track record when it comes to open-source initiatives, so it is rather looking to establish itself in a new market while addressing potential obstacles.