In 2025 AI-RAN has increased its relevance as a topic of strategic interest for operators, vendors, and tech companies alike, as reflected in the growing membership of the AI-RAN Alliance, which now includes stakeholders across the silicon, AI, software and telecoms ecosystems.
MWC 2025 showcased the momentum, with multiple demos under the AI-RAN Alliance banner and more on independent vendor stands, highlighting a surge in development activity.
Incumbent RAN vendors, in partnership with operators, are investigating GPU and GPU-CPU platforms to underpin AI-optimised Cloud RAN. Meanwhile, new entrants such as SynaXG and Kyocera, along with players like Fujitsu, are positioning themselves to benefit from the potential disruption.
Notably, SoftBank has unveiled its own AI-RAN platform and orchestration capabilities, indicating that operator-led innovation is no longer theoretical. Nvidia remains the most vocal proponent, advancing a vision that integrates AI-RAN with AI-as-a-Service and Compute-as-a-Service models — a broader push to redefine RAN economics and deployment paradigms.
Yet for all the energy, the business case for AI-RAN remains under debate. Is this a transformational leap, or merely the latest iteration of the long-anticipated Mobile Edge Compute model?
TMN’s AI RAN Market 2025 Update explores:
- Operator sentiment: which operators are driving AI-RAN, and who?
- Nvidia’s role: AI-RAN catalyst, industry competitor, ecosystem developer
- Vendor responses: from co-research to full-stack propositions, how are vendors responding to the AI-RAN dynamic
- Economic analysis: Exclusive insight and analysis from ABI Research
- Strategic implications: is AI-RAN a revamped edge strategy, or a fundamentally new business model?
This is an essential briefing on the state of AI-RAN – its key players and the unanswered questions that will determine whether this becomes telecoms’ next major architectural shift, or another blurred vision.
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