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The telecom industry sees its share of grand announcements. Most are incremental, designed for industry insiders, and do little to change the immediate landscape.
The news from October 28th was not one of them.
When NVIDIA announced it was investing $1 billion into Nokia, it sent a shockwave through the global technology and financial markets. Nokia’s stock surged by over 20%, a high it hasn’t seen in nearly a decade.
Here at Galaxy, we’ve built our business on deploying robust, carrier-grade private 5G networks in the most demanding environments in Canada, all powered by Nokia’s world-class platform. We’ve seen their engineering excellence up close. This move (a deep, strategic partnership with the undisputed leader in artificial intelligence) is a massive validation of the path we have been on for years.
The $1 billion investment to acquire a 2.9% stake is the headline. But the real story is the why. This partnership is a blueprint for the next two decades of connectivity. It’s designed to turn our entire global network infrastructure from a collection of “dumb pipes” into a single, massive, distributed AI computer.
For the public, this means a faster path to 6G. For our industrial clients in mining, energy, and logistics, it means the “smart mine” or “smart port” concept just took a giant leap forward. The “AI factory” is no longer a far-off idea. It’s about to be built directly into the network itself.
What Was Actually Announced on October 28th?
Beyond the $1 billion figure, the announcement outlined a clear strategic plan with defined roles for a new technology consortium.
The Investment
NVIDIA is investing $1 billion in Nokia at a subscription price of $6.01 per share. This makes NVIDIA the second-largest shareholder, aligning the two companies’ futures.
The Technology
The partnership is focused on creating “AI-native 5G-Advanced and 6G networks”. The core of this is a new concept called AI-RAN, or Artificial Intelligence Radio Access Network.
The Roles: The division of labor is clear
- NVIDIA is providing its new “NVIDIA Arc Aerial RAN Computer (ARC-Pro),” a 6G-ready computing platform built on its CUDA technology.
- Nokia is integrating this powerful AI platform into its industry-leading RAN portfolio, including its AirScale baseband and anyRAN software approach.
- Dell Technologies is also involved, providing the high-performance PowerEdge servers that will form the hardware backbone for these new AI-RAN solutions.
The Commercial Path
T-Mobile U.S. is already on board, collaborating with both companies to drive and test these AI-RAN technologies for its own 6G development. These field trials are scheduled to begin in 2026.
This alliance is a formidable response to a market in constant flux. As Nokia’s new President and CEO, Justin Hotard, aptly stated, “The next leap in telecom isn’t just from 5G to 6G — it’s a fundamental redesign of the network to deliver AI-powered connectivity”.
The Tectonic Shift
The market’s enthusiastic reaction was a rapid re-evaluation of Nokia’s position in the global tech hierarchy.
Nokia’s Strategic Masterstroke
For a long time, the public associated Nokia with its past in mobile phones. In the network world, it was known as a solid, reliable infrastructure provider in a fierce, low-margin hardware battle with competitors like Ericsson.
This announcement instantly reframes that narrative.
Nokia’s new CEO, Justin Hotard, who joined in April from Intel’s data center and AI group, clearly brought a new perspective. Instead of trying to build a rival AI chip, he has strategically hitched Nokia’s entire network wagon to the most powerful and widely adopted AI engine on the planet.
It’s a brilliant move. Nokia stops being “just” a 6G equipment vendor and becomes the only company that can plug NVIDIA’s AI brain directly into the global telecom grid at scale.
For any operator wanting to build a best-in-class AI network, Nokia is now the most direct path. This puts immense pressure on its competitors, who now look a step behind, forced to play catch-up to this integrated AI-RAN stack.
The Network Finally Becomes the Computer
For two decades, we’ve talked about the network as a “pipe.” It was a utility designed to move data from a centralized data center (where the thinking happens) to a device at the edge. This partnership signals the definitive end of that model.
Michael Dell, whose company is providing the servers, said it best: “The telecommunications industry owns the most valuable real estate for AI — the edge, where data is created”.
He followed up with the single most important line of the entire announcement, a concept that is at the heart of our mission at Galaxy: Operators “won’t just carry AI traffic — they’ll be the distributed AI grid factories that process it at the source”.
Let that sink in: “Distributed AI grid factories.”
This is the whole point. The AI applications our industrial clients dream of:
- Real-time autonomous haulage systems
- AI-powered predictive maintenance for remote equipment
- Augmented reality for field technicians
The processing must happen instantly, on-site, where the data is generated. This partnership does exactly that. It puts a powerful, CUDA-based NVIDIA AI computer inside the 6G base station. The cell tower, or in our case, the private 5G node at a mine site, becomes an edge AI server.
What Is an “AI-RAN” Anyway?
AI-RAN represents a fundamental change in network architecture. It can be broken down into three distinct concepts.
- AI for RAN: This is using AI to improve the network itself. The AI-RAN will constantly monitor the radio environment, predict traffic patterns, and manage spectrum. This means a more stable, efficient, and reliable connection with lower energy consumption. For a remote site with hundreds of IoT sensors and autonomous vehicles, this means the network intelligently manages all those competing connections to ensure nothing ever fails.
- AI on RAN: This is the big one. This is the “AI factory” concept. By embedding NVIDIA’s ARC-Pro platform, the network can run new AI services for customers. The spare computing power within the RAN equipment can be used to run AI models directly. A private 5G network at a manufacturing plant can now run its computer vision models for quality control on the same hardware that provides its connectivity.
- AI in RAN: This refers to embedding AI-native functions deep within the software stack that defines the radio signal itself. This is more technical, but it’s what enables the network to be software-defined and flexible, paving the way for the complex demands of 6G, such as integrated sensing and communications.
This three-pronged approach means the network stops being a passive data pipe and becomes an active, intelligent participant in operations.
What This Means for…
This news is a business model earthquake that will be felt across every industry.
For Public Telecom Operators (like T-Mobile)
For years, telecom operators have been fighting the “dumb pipe” problem. They spend billions building 5G infrastructure, only to see all the profits go to the app companies and cloud providers who use those pipes.
This AI-RAN platform gives them a new life.
They can finally stop just selling data plans and start selling “edge AI computing” services. A public operator can now offer a “premium AI” slice of its network to businesses, guaranteeing the low latency needed for on-the-go generative AI.
T-Mobile’s involvement is a clear sign that operators are ready for this. Their CTO, John Saw, stated this collaboration “marks an important step toward shaping the future of connectivity as we develop the innovations that will power the 6G era”.
The trials starting in 2026 are the first step. For a full, nationwide public 6G network powered by this new AI-RAN technology, most analysts are looking at a timeline closer to 2030. This is a five-year (or more) journey for the public consumer. For private industry, however, the timeline is different.
For Galaxy and Our Private Network Clients
This is, without a doubt, the most exciting part. The public 6G future is fascinating, but as mentioned, it is still roughly five years away from being a widespread reality. For private industry, that timeline is not fixed. The AI-RAN revolution will happen first in private networks, and the journey begins today by deploying the right foundation.
Why? Because our clients in mining, energy, and logistics have the clearest and most immediate business case for on-site, low-latency AI.
- For a Mine: A private 5G network already powers autonomous drills and haul trucks. With the new Nokia/NVIDIA AI-RAN, that same network can now run the AI models that guide those trucks, perform real-time analysis of sensor data to predict a grinder fault, or run computer vision to ensure worker safety, all without ever sending data off-site.
- For a Port: A private network can track containers. An AI-RAN can predict logistics bottlenecks, autonomously route cranes and vehicles for maximum efficiency, and process video feeds locally to identify hazards, all in real-time.
- For a Remote Site: Our clients operate in locations where a connection to a public data center is slow or non-existent. The AI-RAN becomes their only data center. It delivers the AI-powered insights they need right where they work, using the same infrastructure that powers their phone and data connection.
This is what Galaxy can help your business build today. As a long-standing Nokia partner, Galaxy is already deploying the private 5G infrastructure that serves as the essential foundation for this entire AI-RAN future.
We can sit down with your team now to discuss how a robust, secure, and high-performance private 5G network can address your immediate operational challenges. Together, we enable autonomous systems and real-time data collection to ensure the safety of critical workers.
Building this private 5G network makes your operation more efficient today and ensures you are ready to simply upgrade to these powerful AI-RAN capabilities as they become commercially available. You cannot build the AI factory of tomorrow on yesterday’s Wi-Fi.
The Future Is an “All-American” Stack
A final, crucial point in this announcement is the geopolitical angle. NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang was direct, calling telecommunications “a critical national infrastructure”. He said this partnership “empowers the United States to regain global leadership in this vital infrastructure technology”.
This “All-American AI-RAN Stack,” as it’s being called, is a clear strategic move to create a secure, high-performance, and Western-led alternative in the global 5G and 6G race.
For businesses and governments concerned with data sovereignty and supply chain security, this is a powerful, compelling message.
Our Final Take
On October 28th, the future of telecommunications was rewritten.
NVIDIA’s $1 billion investment is a brilliant strategic move, but it’s also a validation of Nokia’s quiet, decade-long work in building the world’s most robust network infrastructure. For Nokia, this partnership is a well-deserved return to the center of the global technology stage.
For us at Galaxy, it’s confirmation. The future of telecom is AI. The future of AI is at the edge. And as of today, the edge is being built by our partners.
The industry has been given a clear roadmap. The T-Mobile trials in 2026 and initial revenues in 2027 are the first steps on a five-year journey to this AI-powered 6G world. The clock is ticking, but not for the final destination. It’s ticking off the tasks for laying the groundwork. For public networks, this is a long-term upgrade. For private industry, it’s an opportunity that starts now.
This is the AI-powered present, and we are ready to build it.
Build the Foundation for Your AI Factory Today
This announcement is the “what” and the “why.” If you’re ready to figure out the “how” for your own business, we can help.
We’ve prepared a detailed white paper, “The Distributed AI Factory: A Blueprint for Your Business,” that outlines the practical steps to turn your private network into an AI-ready platform.
Download the whitepaper here, and let’s get ready for the AI-RAN wave.
