At Mobile World Congress, Ericsson and Intel unveil plans for AI-native 6G, promising intelligent, energy-efficient networks that unify connectivity and real-time sensing globally.
Ericsson and Intel have announced an expanded collaboration to jointly develop and commercialise AI-native 6G technologies, covering connectivity, cloud, compute, radio access networks (RAN), packet core and security. The announcement was made at Mobile World Congress 2026, where AI-native 6G has emerged as a central theme.
The companies aim to create an architecture that integrates intelligent, programmable networks with advanced computing and real-time sensing. This approach is intended to deliver more responsive and efficient services, while enabling closer integration between sensing and compute functions.
The collaboration will combine Ericsson’s in-house silicon with Intel’s advanced process nodes, alongside multi-year research plans and AI-RAN ready cloud RAN powered by Intel Xeon. The companies said the initiative is designed to meet operator requirements for performance, efficiency and supply security as 6G development progresses.
6G is not merely an iteration of mobile technology, but an infrastructure that will distribute AI across devices, the edge and the cloud, said Börje Ekholm, Chief Executive Officer of Ericsson.
He further said that Ericsson’s history of network innovation and large-scale operator deployments positions them to lead practical integration across the value chain and move 6G from research into commercial reality.
The partnership builds on Intel’s earlier work in mobile networks, including Xeon-based vRAN solutions, and comes as competition intensifies with rivals such as NVIDIA, which is working with Nokia on AI-native 6G infrastructure.
Ericsson and Intel emphasised energy efficiency as a differentiator, contrasting Intel’s CPUs with NVIDIA’s GPU-based approach.
Intel’s ambition is to be an undisputed technology leader in unifying RAN, core and edge AI to enable a seamless transition to AI-native 6G environments, said Lip-Bu Tan, Chief Executive Officer of Intel.
He said that along with Ericsson, it will continue to demonstrate that the future of network connectivity is open, power-efficient, secure and grounded in intelligent AI inference.
