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AI-RAN Alliance: Qualcomm Silently Joins, BUT as Player or Observer?

By Malik Saadi | 27 Feb 2025 | IN-7735

Qualcomm quietly joined the AI-RAN Alliance in January 2025 without typical announcement fanfare, suggesting a passive observational role, rather than active participation. The alliance has grown significantly to 72 members in its first year with specifications expected in 2025 and implementations by 2027 with a clear influence of NVIDIA and SoftBank, which are steering the alliance agenda and roadmap. Qualcomm will likely only play the role of an observer within this alliance and the company will have two major choices to exercise its usual stimulus on the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) within the edge, the Radio Access Network (RAN) infrastructure in particular. It will have to either form an alternative alliance to maintain strategic influence or leverage its position in the O-RAN Alliance, noting that its recent Dragonwing RAN Automation Suite demonstrates capability in AI-powered RAN solutions.

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Written by Malik Saadi

Vice President
Malik Kamal-Saadi is head of the Strategic Technology Group at ABI Research focusing on transformative technologies and innovation across Telecommunications and Connectivity Technologies, Enterprise IT and OT Technologies, Cloud, Edge, and Distributed Computing, Artificial Intelligence, Data Warehouses, Robotics and Automation, and other adjacent technologies. In his role, Malik leads ABI Research’s thought leadership, consultancy services, syndicated services, strategic positioning, market forecasts, competitive assessments, and market analysis.

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