Nvidia and SoftBank Corp, the telecommunications division of SoftBank Group, have jointly launched a pilot program for the world’s first network capable of handling both artificial intelligence (AI) and 5G tasks simultaneously, a setup referred to as an artificial intelligence radio access network (AI-RAN). This innovative network, which was announced by the two companies on Wednesday, is designed to support applications such as remote assistance for autonomous vehicles and control systems for robotics.
SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son, speaking at an AI event alongside Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, remarked that this technology represents a significant advancement that other telecom providers will likely need to adopt. Additionally, Huang shared that SoftBank was the first to receive Nvidia’s new Blackwell chip designs, which are being integrated into a supercomputer that SoftBank is developing for its own generative AI model.