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Nvidia’s (NVDA) billion-dollar strategic partnership with Nokia (NOK) sent Nokia shares up over 20% on Oct. 28, hitting their highest level in more than three years. But perhaps the real winner was named deeper in the press release: T-Mobile (TMUS). Nvidia announced it will invest $1 billion for a 2.9% stake in Nokia, alongside a strategic partnership to develop AI-RAN (AI Radio Access Network) technologies. Nokia is still relatively small, with a $34 billion market cap, which is expected to grow thanks to its strategic partnership with Nvidia, a multitrillion-dollar company. But another real winner here is T-Mobile. Its stock over the last year has been fairly stagnant, but this partnership could put it at the front of the 6G race. Jensen Huang’s Midas Touch Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has developed what some might call a Midas touch with strategic partnerships. This renewed investment in Nokia’s infrastructure, powered by Nvidia’s technology, creates something we haven’t seen yet: a major telecom provider working directly with an AI giant like Nvidia at this scale. “Telecommunications is a critical national infrastructure — the digital nervous system of our economy and security,” Huang said in the announcement. “Built on NVIDIA CUDA and AI, AI-RAN will revolutionize telecommunications — a generational platform shift that empowers the United States to regain global leadership in this vital infrastructure technology.” Both Verizon (VZ) and AT&T (T) have announced their own AI strategies, but nothing to the extent of T-Mobile’s strategic partnership with Nvidia. The partnership focuses on AI-RAN technologies for 6G development, with trials expected to begin in 2026. T-Mobile will work directly with Nokia and Nvidia to test these technologies as part of their 6G innovation process. What This Means for T-Mobile John Saw, T-Mobile’s chief technology officer, made the strategic implications clear: “With America’s best network, T-Mobile remains committed to advancing next-generation technologies that redefine the customer experience,” Saw stated. “Our collaboration with industry leaders Nokia and NVIDIA marks an important step toward shaping the future of connectivity as we develop the innovations that will power the 6G era.” He continued: “Building on the foundation established by the AI-RAN Innovation Center in 2024, this strategic initiative reinforces T-Mobile’s leadership in driving the U.S. wireless industry forward. Beginning in 2026, T-Mobile will conduct field evaluations and testing of advanced AI-RAN technologies to ensure they meet the evolving needs of our customers as we move toward 6G.” This puts T-Mobile in a unique position. While competitors focus on incremental 5G improvements, T-Mobile is positioning itself at the forefront of 6G infrastructure with direct access to Nvidia’s AI technology and Nokia’s telecom expertise. The Bigger Picture: AI at the Edge The partnership focuses not only on faster phones, but also on establishing infrastructure for AI at the edge, where data is created and processed. Michael Dell, Chairman and CEO of Dell Technologies (DELL) (which is providing servers for the solution), explained the stakes: “The telecommunications industry owns the most valuable real estate for AI — the edge, where data is created,” Dell said. “This AI-RAN collaboration with Nokia and NVIDIA makes that potential real. We’ve built some of the world’s largest AI clusters with 100,000+ GPUs. Now we’re applying that expertise to distribute intelligence across millions of edge nodes.” Capital expenditure on data center infrastructure is expected to exceed $1.7 trillion by 2030, according to McKinsey, largely because of AI expansion. T-Mobile’s early move into this space with Nvidia positions it to capture significant value. Is T-Mobile Stock a Buy? Whether or not this new partnership makes T-Mobile a buy is yet to be determined. The stock has been trading relatively flat in 2025, and trials don't start until 2026. But this kind of strategic positioning is exactly what growth investors look for – getting ahead of the next major technology wave before it becomes obvious to everyone else. Nokia CEO Justin Hotard framed the transformation clearly: “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, capable of processing intelligence from the data center all the way to the edge.” For T-Mobile, being the first major U.S. carrier to work so closely with Nvidia on 6G technology could give it a competitive advantage that could define the next decade of wireless service. While Nokia captured the headlines with its 20%-plus stock surge, T-Mobile may have quietly secured the most valuable prize: pole position in the race to 6G.
