Intel NEX SVP & GM Discusses vRAN Evolution & the Rise of AI in Telecom from MWC

The narrative at Mobile World Congress 2025 is not just about faster speeds but about a fundamental reimagining of what telecommunications can achieve. Six Five Media host Will Townsend is joined by Sachin Katti, SVP & GM, Intel Network & Edge Group at Intel, to explore this transformation. Their discussion highlights how the convergence of AI and 5G is unlocking new possibilities and Intel's role in shaping this future.

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‍Key takeaways include:

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🔹Virtualization is just the beginning: Intel's leadership in network virtualization paved the way for today's software-defined networks. Now, they're setting their sights on vRAN and the next generation of AI-powered networks.

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🔹The new Xeon 6 SoC is a game-changer: This powerful chip delivers a massive boost in performance and efficiency, enabling telcos to build more agile, cost-effective, and sustainable networks.

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🔹AI is the future of telecom: Intel's new chips are packed with AI acceleration capabilities, enabling everything from computer vision and natural language processing to generative AI, all running at the network edge.

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🔹Collaboration is key: Intel is committed to an open ecosystem approach, working with partners like Ericsson, Samsung, and Nokia to drive innovation and deliver value to customers. Learn more at Intel. Watch the video above, and be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, so you never miss an episode.

Will Townsend:
Welcome to another Six Five Media On The Road. We're at Mobile World Congress Barcelona 2025. I'm Will Townsend and joining me is Sachin Katti with Intel. Sachin, how's it going?

Sachin Katti:
Great. Great to be here.

Will Townsend:
Exciting event, right? Lots of activity going on.

Sachin Katti:
Fantastic event. So much buzz around here, I think. Really excited to talk to you about it.

Will Townsend:
We're going to get into it. So a lot of people might not know that intel has been very focused on the telecom industry for quite some time. Can you spend a little bit of time talking about some of the innovations that intel has brought to the industry?

Sachin Katti:
Yeah, I mean, we have had a long history here. In fact, telecom is actually our biggest vertical if you track by business. The business is actually growing, recovering from the last two years, but it grew 10% quarter over quarter last quarter. So we started working with telecom nearly like in 2010, 2011. The time frame really drove with the whole industry and industry transformation. So we started with the core of the network, really worked with the whole industry on how we virtualize the network. And it was a partnership, Right. We built, obviously, our hardware, but also a lot of software and a lot of ecosystem collaborations. So to convince the whole industry to move towards this virtualization journey. And I must say I'm thrilled about how successful we are. Hundreds of the core network is now fully virtualized. There is no core network that is not virtualized anymore. And that journey just began 10 years ago. I think we are now on the same journey on the radio access network. Every conversation in this show has been about, oh, okay, now we are ready. Now is the time to do it before the next five years, before sixty shows up. So super exciting to be here. I think this has been a great partnership, a great show. I love coming here and talking to customers.

Will Townsend:
Yeah, it's like my seventh or eighth Mobile World Congress in a row. And you touched on virtualization. I mean, that drives so much efficiency And I understand that intel recently announced a new line of CPUs that support VRAN and some core network functionality. Can you talk a little bit about that?

Sachin Katti:
Yeah. The one you're talking about is the Xeon 6 SoC that we launched a week ago, codenamed Granite Rapids D. So some of our customers might know it by that name, really? Step change in the kind of TCO and performance you can get. So this is one that delivers 2.4x better capacity than the previous generation, which was just out like 18 months ago.

Will Townsend:
Right.

Sachin Katti:
So the way I like to describe it to my customers is we are bringing a Moore's Law for telecom and we are delivering generation over generation. We are more than doubling the capacity. And not only are we doubling the capacity, because the other issue that everyone talks to me about is how much power do you consume? How much energy do you consume? It's top of mind, given everything that's going on in the world with modern AI, right? Totally, totally. And the wars and all that recently, everyone's worried about that. So this thing not only delivers 2.5x better capacity, but it also cuts your power consumption by up to 70%.

Will Townsend:
Wow. That's a game changer.

Sachin Katti:
So it's a huge deal and very well received by the whole industry. They are looking at this as the inflection point where instead of using custom radio access networks, you can actually now use programmable software defined radio access networks and build a radio network as you would build the rest of your cloud infrastructure. And it really changed the economics where this is now better than the traditional network.

Will Townsend:
From a capex perspective, it's super disruptive, right?

Sachin Katti:
Completely. And it future proofs their architecture. So it's now a cloud native architecture. They can keep doing software upgrades instead of having to go do a hardware rollout. So every conversation this week has been about how quickly can you get this out to me? Because they are now like, this is no longer a question of should we do this, it's a question of when and how quickly can we do this? And I think it's been a fantastic conference to have those kinds of conversations because customers have been waiting for this product for a long time.

Will Townsend:
Certainly. Certainly. Well, hey, we would be remiss if we didn't talk about AI, right? So let's talk about AI a little bit. I know the Xeon 6 SoC supports some new AI acceleration. I'd love to hear from your standpoint, where do you see this playing? Very, very strongly, as you know, spent time at the show for the last two days. There's a lot of talk about AI. Right. But there's more to it than that. So what are your thoughts around the impact of AI on telco workloads?

Sachin Katti:
Of course, you cannot go to a single meeting at MWC without talking about AI this year. And so this is no different, I think on AI, the way we look at it is it's a fundamental transformation. It's going to change how networks are designed, how networks are operated, and what kind of things run on the network.

Will Townsend:
Sure.

Sachin Katti:
But at the same time, when we talk to our customers, their universal feedback is I cannot afford to deploy another new architecture for AI. I am constrained in terms of space I have in the network, how much power I have in the network. And I also still need to do my day job, which is deliver a network, deliver connectivity to audio. So I really need from you guys a single platform that not only runs my network, not only runs my wireless signal processing, but it also can run an AI workload.

Will Townsend:
Sure.

Sachin Katti:
Because that's the way to make the economics work, make the math work. So that's what we are focused on, how this SoC that we just introduced not only delivers you the capability needed to run your network, but also in addition add an AI acceleration that allows you to run AI workloads. So with this one, we introduced AMX and other AVX capabilities into our processors. And that really allows you to do AI inference applications on the same SoC that you're running your base station on. And it can run all kinds of models. So imagine computer vision models, large language models, gen AI models easily run like 7 billion parameter models at the edge while also running a base station. In fact, one of the demos here at the show shows that an enterprise could take this SoC, run a private 5G network, run a 32 camera system where they can process the camera feeds across their entire campus, and in addition run Chatbot based on a large language model, all on the same platform. That's the power. I think we can now tell customers that we give you the flexibility to dip your toes into AI because you have the AI capabilities you need, you don't need to buy anything else. And then over time, as you figure out what are the use cases, how you're going to monetize this, you can add AI capacity, you don't have to take a risky all in bet today.

Will Townsend:
Sure, and the focus has been on GPU technology, but they're very power hungry. And a lot of what you can do, you can use CPUs to do that. Right. And from My perspective proof is in the deployment and you work with a host of infrastructure providers to integrate the intel solution. Can you spend a little bit of time talking about some of those partners and some of the results that you're seeing?

Sachin Katti:
Absolutely. So as I said, the whole industry has been waiting for these products to be released and our ecosystem is primed and ready to go. On the SoC for cloud RAN applications, working with Ericsson and Samsung closely, they are leveraging the SoC to build out their cloud RAN solution. But I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about the other Xeon 6 which is based on the E cores. This is the efficiency course and that's been extremely well received for the core of the network. So this is one where we are working with Nokia, Samsung and Ericsson and almost all of them are seeing a 3-4x improvement in performance in the capacity that they can process traffic at. And again the same story. Not only do you get a better capacity but also lower the energy consumption of doing this same process. This is a step change almost universally. Every operator, every partner that I'm talking to, the narrative is you guys are changing both the core of the network as well as the radio access network with these products and talking about not 10%, 20%, but you're talking about 2 to 4x improvement in capacity and you're cutting power consumption by cutting capex as well.

Will Townsend:
At the same it's a win, win.

Sachin Katti:
Win Capex OPEX and flexibility too. So it's in every dimension you can think of. It's been a fantastic show.

Will Townsend:
Yeah, it's super powerful. Well, it's been a great conversation Sachin, but as we close I'd like to get your input on. We sort of touched on this at the very beginning of our conversation. As you've spent time here for the past couple of days, what excites you the most about what you're seeing here at Mobile World Congress 2025?

Sachin Katti:
Yeah, I think the main takeaway for me, it's been as I reflect back on two days of back to back meetings without eating lunch for two days. Yes, I wouldn’t eat at all today, but it's been fun. I haven't felt hungry because there's so much to absorb and so much to discuss. But the main takeaway for me is everyone's now realizing that they have to modernize their networks and they're all well on the path to do that both in the core as well as in the run. And now the question is shifting towards how do I monetize my network.

Will Townsend:
That's been the classic challenge with the telecom industry, right?

Sachin Katti:
Yes, yes. And modernize and monetize and everyone's class coming to me and asking questions around. How can we brainstorm? How can we work together as an ecosystem to monetize this investment better? And I think we all need to do it together. It takes a village. We take an open approach. We are not a vertically integrated solution. We work with our entire ecosystem. So that's really been the takeaway that it's even more important in these times of rapid change. I mean we're talking about things changing every week nowadays, especially with AI. Right, with AI, geopolitics, everything that's going on. How do we work together as an ecosystem and drive an open approach that drives benefits for everyone? And I think that's been the most interesting takeaway. I think the industry is ready for that kind of approach and they need that approach over the next few years.

Will Townsend:
Well, that's a great way to end our conversation, Sachin. I want to thank our viewers for tuning in. This has been Six Five Media on the road at Mobile World Congress Barcelona 2025. Tune into our other video content that'll be posted throughout the week and have a fantastic day.