T-Mobile's AI RAN Plan Is More Than Nvidia

T-Mobile is pushing deeper into AI for its radio access network, but it does not want that story reduced to a single chip vendor. Chief Network Officer Ankur Kapoor says AI RAN is the direction the industry is heading, yet argues the near-term focus should be on applying more practical AI tools to today’s live radio networks, not just planning for a distant overhaul.

The operator is testing and deploying AI to tune network performance, cut energy use and automate routine decisions at the edge of the network. Nvidia is one of the partners in this work, but T-Mobile is also looking at other suppliers and software approaches to avoid lock-in and keep options open as AI RAN evolves.