The news is out: MWC26 was flooded with AI-related content in its telecom exhibition. Flooded, you say? Let's check the facts. The phrase "a taste of AI" is incredibly vague. Is it like adding "beef flavor" to instant noodles, or is it actually using prime cuts of Wagyu? We need to dissect this with cold, hard data.
It's only natural that AI was mentioned at MWC26. Telecommunications infrastructure acts as the highway for data, and AI is the car driving on it. A great highway is useless without cars to drive on it, and vice versa. So, telecom and AI are inextricably linked. The key question is: "What kind" of AI was featured?
While we need to examine the original article, it's likely to be predictable stuff. Telecom companies enhancing LLM-based chatbots or using AI to optimize networks. While these attempts aren't bad in themselves, calling it an "AI revolution" is an exaggeration. The real money is elsewhere.
The real money lies in On-Device AI, especially NPUs. On-Device AI, which processes AI computations directly on the device without going through the network, offers enormous advantages in data security, response speed, and power efficiency. To handle the explosive increase in data traffic in the 5G and 6G era, On-Device AI is not an option, but a necessity. The problem is that NPU technology is still in its early stages. Only a few companies like Apple, Qualcomm, and MediaTek are developing their own NPUs, and most telecom equipment manufacturers still have a long way to go.
Just as Qualcomm dominated the communication chipset market when transitioning from 3G to 4G, companies with NPU technology are likely to be the "hidden winners" of this On-Device AI era. We need to closely examine how many NPU-related announcements were made at MWC26 and which companies showcased their technology.
If communication services using RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) technology were introduced at MWC26, that's also worth noting. RAG reduces the "hallucination" of LLMs and allows them to reflect the latest information. If telecom companies use RAG to provide customized information or build intelligent consultation services, it could greatly enhance the user experience.
But remember, MWC is a "showcase" event. There are many mountains to climb before actual commercialization. Technical issues, regulatory issues, and cost issues – there are a mountain of challenges to be solved. So, it's dangerous to make investment decisions based solely on AI-related announcements at MWC26. We need to analyze it coldly based on facts and carefully consider its impact on the actual market. Now is not the time to get excited about just "a taste of AI," but to find the real "kernel." We will need to continuously track for the next few years what disruptive changes the technologies announced at MWC26 will bring to the actual telecom market. The phrase "see the future first" is good, but blind faith is forbidden. A future not verified by data is just an illusion.