SoftBank Corp. Announces Telco AI Cloud Vision to Build Social Infrastructure for the AI Era, Leveraging Its Telecommunications Foundation
Telecommunications operator is integrating GPU cloud, AI-RAN and software for AI data centers to evolve into an AI infrastructure provider
BARCELONA, March 2, 2026 /CNW/ -- SoftBank Corp. (President & CEO: Junichi Miyakawa, "SoftBank") announced a new vision, Telco AI Cloud, aimed at building next-generation social infrastructure for the AI era by leveraging its nationwide telecommunications foundation.
Telco AI Cloud is an AI infrastructure vision that integrates a large-scale AI data center platform powered by a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) cloud, an AI-RAN-based MEC (Multi-access Edge Computing) platform, and a software stack for AI data centers*1 called "Infrinia AI Cloud OS." By optimizing AI processing from training to inference and utilizing its nationwide telecommunications infrastructure, SoftBank will build a distributed AI infrastructure that delivers low latency, high reliability, and sovereign capability (data sovereignty). Through its Telco AI Cloud vision, SoftBank aims to evolve beyond the traditional role of a telecommunications operator and become an AI infrastructure provider.
Components of Telco AI Cloud
Telco AI Cloud is a vision uniquely enabled by SoftBank's position as a telecommunications operator with a nationwide network infrastructure. Unlike hyperscaler-type centralized clouds, it enables the construction of a distributed AI infrastructure embedded within a telecommunications network.
Telco AI Cloud consists primarily of:
- Large-scale AI data centers (GPU cloud) responsible mainly for AI training,
- An AI-RAN-based MEC platform and orchestrator that perform low-latency inference processing, and
- he "Infrinia AI Cloud OS" software stack that centrally manages and integrates these components.
In its AI-RAN product "AITRAS," SoftBank is developing an orchestrator ("AITRAS Orchestrator") that monitors in real time the demand for computing resources used for both AI processing and RAN (Radio Access Network) control. Based on multiple indicators--such as resource availability, application requirements, and projected power consumption--the orchestrator dynamically and flexibly allocates resources. Within Telco AI Cloud, RAN itself is managed as a unified AI application, enabling advanced cross-domain control of computing resources across both the telecommunications network and AI processing infrastructure.
In distributed AI infrastructure environments, variations in configurations across sites can create operational complexity. To address this challenge, SoftBank has developed "Infrinia AI Cloud OS," a software stack that provides integrated management from GPUs and telecommunications networks to Kubernetes*2 and AI workloads. This enables optimized AI processing from training to inference and supports secure, multi-tenant GPU cloud operations.
For more details on "Infrinia AI Cloud OS," please refer to the press release dated January 21, 2026, titled: "SoftBank Announces 'Infrinia AI Cloud OS,' a Software Stack for AI Data Centers."
Announcements Related to Realizing Telco AI Cloud
In conjunction with MWC Barcelona 2026, SoftBank has announced the following initiatives to realize Telco AI Cloud:
- Advancing Telecommunications Networks for the Physical AI Era
Following the start of collaboration with Yaskawa Electric Corporation on physical AI robots utilizing MEC for social implementation of Physical AI*3, SoftBank successfully conducted a joint proof-of-concept with Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) using AI-RAN to deliver low-latency, high-reliability networks for Physical AI. By tightly integrating robots, networks, and computing resources, and enabling dynamic offloading of AI processing along with network optimization, SoftBank aims to realize next-generation networks that support real-time Physical AI applications.
Related Press Release:
February 27, 2026: "SoftBank Corp. and Ericsson Successfully Demonstrate Low-Latency, High-Reliability Network-enabled Physical AI With AI-RAN"
- Deployment of Secure Edge AI Infrastructure for Industrial Sectors
SoftBank has commenced collaboration with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. to expand the deployment of "AITRAS" in the edge data center domain. This initiative enables secure, low-latency AI inference in on-premises environments, promoting advanced edge AI utilization in industrial sectors such as manufacturing.
Related Press Release:
March 2, 2026: "SoftBank Corp. and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Begin Collaboration in Edge Data Center Domain Using "AITRAS"
- Expansion of the AI-RAN Ecosystem
SoftBank has open-sourced the Dynamic Scoring Framework (DSF), a core function of the AITRAS Orchestrator. DSF enables optimization based on resource conditions in multi-cluster environments. Through this initiative, SoftBank will strengthen collaboration with partners and open-source software (OSS) communities, lower barriers to AI-RAN adoption, and accelerate commercial deployment.
Related Press Release:
February 18, 2026: "SoftBank Open-Sources AITRAS Orchestrator to Expand AI-RAN Ecosystem"
SoftBank is also strengthening integration between the AITRAS Orchestrator and Ericsson's O-RAN-compliant SMO (Service Management and Orchestration), as well as Nokia's AI platform, to enable dynamic allocation of computing resources across AI and RAN domains. This will support collaboration with SMO and the execution of external AI workloads, creating new AI-driven revenue opportunities for telecommunications operators.
Related Press Releases:
February 27, 2026: "SoftBank Corp. and Ericsson Achieve Interworking Between the AITRAS Orchestrator and Ericsson Intelligent Automation Platform"
February 25, 2026: "SoftBank Corp. and Nokia to Enable Execution of External AI Workloads on AI-RAN"
Additionally, through participation in OCUDU (Open Compute & Universal Distributed Unit), which aims to advance distributed AI-RAN infrastructure, SoftBank will promote the formation of an open and global AI-RAN ecosystem.
Related Press Release:
March 1, 2026: Linux Foundation - "Linux Foundation Announces OCUDU Ecosystem Foundation to Accelerate Open Source AI-RAN Innovation" (English only)
*1 A software stack refers to a combination of multiple software components and functions required to build and operate systems or applications.
*2 Kubernetes is an open-source system for automating application deployment and scaling, and for managing containerized applications.
*3 Physical AI refers to technology that enables robots to perform flexible and complex movements by analyzing and making decisions based on data obtained from sensors, cameras, and external systems using AI.
About the SoftBank Research Institute of Advanced Technology
Guided by its mission to implement new technologies into society, SoftBank Corp.'s Research Institute of Advanced Technology promotes R&D and business creation for advanced technologies that support next-generation social infrastructure, including AI-RAN and Beyond 5G/6G, as well as telecommunications, AI, computing, quantum technologies, and technologies in the space and energy sectors. Through industry-academia collaboration and joint research with universities, research institutions and partner companies in Japan and abroad, the SoftBank Research Institute of Advanced Technology is contributing to the creation of global businesses and a sustainable society. For more details, please visit the official website.
- SoftBank, the SoftBank name and logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of SoftBank Group Corp. in Japan and other countries.
- Other company, product and service names in this press release are registered trademarks or trademarks of the respective companies.
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