Tech giants in the AI race have been spending billions of dollars for GPUs made by Nvidia, considered a leader when it comes to chips that power the technology
AFP

Nvidia and Softbank Corp have piloted the world's first 5G telecom network powered by artificial intelligence, as part of a collaboration between the two tech giants.

During the Nvidia AI Summit in Japan on Wednesday, NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang and SoftBank Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son revealed that the combined AI and 5G network will be known as AI-RAN (radio access network).

The highly advanced network would allow both AI and 5G workloads to run simultaneously, and that such an endeavor will be "opening new revenue possibilities for telecom providers," according to a blogpost on Nvidia.

Son said that "with this intelligence network that we densely connect each other, [it will] become one big neural brain for the infrastructure intelligence to Japan."

Reuters reported that some of the applications for the network include robotics control and autonomous vehicle remote support.

"Every other telco will have to follow this new wave," said Son as he spoke in the event alongside Huang.

According to Huang, Softbank was the first recipient of its Blackwell chip designs.

Aside from the AI 5G network, Nvidia and Softbank partnership will also yield another development - Japan's most powerful AI supercomputer.

SoftBank's DGX SuperPOD will utilize the Nvidia Blackwell platform to deliver extensive computing power, which will be the backbone of the country's AI initiatives. This will include large language models that are specifically tailored for Japan.

"With your support, we are creating the largest AI data center here in Japan," said Son.

"We should provide this platform to many of those researchers, the students, the startups, so that we can encourage ... so that they have a better access [to] much more compute," he added.

The two CEOs also discussed what Japan's role would be in the AI revolution. Huang highlighted the importance of AI infrastructure, underscoring the two types of AI - the digital and physical.

"Every industry, every company, every country must produce a new industrial revolution," Huang said.

"I can't imagine a better country to lead the robotics AI revolution than Japan," Huang also said. He also noted how Japan has created some of the best robots in the world.

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