Smarter 5G Today, Seamless Path to 6G: Intel's AI-Ready Network Vision

Intel already powers the vast majority of commercial 5G at global scale, with an unmatched footprint in virtualized Core and RAN. With the Xeon 6 processor family - including offerings tuned for Core, RAN, and Edge requirements - we're extending that leadership with more capacity per watt, integrated capabilities, and a software foundation designed to help operators modernize without disruption.

In the 5G Core Intel is everywhere with momentum for Xeon 6 with E-cores accelerating as operators look for proven platforms that can address rising traffic, tightening energy constraints, and increasing operational costs. This momentum reflects more than a decade of collaboration across the ecosystem, delivering 5G core and telco cloud solutions on Intel silicon and software that achieve meaningful power savings without compromising performance, service quality, or deployment simplicity.

As 5G core requirements intensify, power efficiency alone is no longer sufficient to address growth and emerging operational challenges. Intel Xeon 6 with E-cores meets operator demand for platforms that combine power efficiency with built-in security and long-term flexibility. The architecture integrates zero trust security through TDX to protect sensitive data in use, accelerates data in transit with QAT, and enables 5G core AI inferencing to run on existing infrastructure-allowing new capabilities to be introduced and scaled without disruptive network redesigns.

Here are a few real-world examples of Intel Xeon 6 with E-cores in action since its launch just over a year ago:

• SK Telecom is deploying Xeon 6 with E-cores and Intel Ethernet 800 Series product in its mobile core production environment.
• NTT DOCOMO has selected Xeon 6 with E-cores and Intel Ethernet E830 Network Adapter for next generation mobile core deployments.

Looking ahead, network equipment providers (NEPs) and service providers have already seen firsthand how Intel's E-core architecture delivers efficiency, density, performance and security across today's Core infrastructure environments. As customer needs evolve toward platforms that offer predictable performance, strong reliability, and efficient scalability to reduce TCO, Intel is advancing to the next step in the Xeon 6 roadmap: Intel Xeon 6+. Built on Intel 18A and designed for exceptional efficiency, Xeon 6+ gives operators a platform that scales workloads aggressively, cuts energy use, and enables more intelligent network services. Moreover, it brings increases in core density while reducing power consumption-directly improving total cost of ownership. From 5G infrastructure to cloud-native applications, these processors are engineered to optimize performance, efficiency, and cost, redefining data-center economics on the road to 6G. We're previewing this next generation here at MWC, with more details to come in the months ahead.