Verizon advances its AI-native 6G plans

• Verizon formed its 6G Innovation Forum in September 2025
• Now AWS, Cisco, Intel, Nvidia and more have joined that initiative 
• The move will advance the telco’s AI-native 6G progress, says CTO Yago Tenorio
• Verizon is particularly focused on the development of integrated sensing services

Verizon has taken a significant step on its path to enabling AI-native services, such as integrated sensing and communication (ISAC), in the 5G and 6G eras with the addition of major industry names, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Cisco Systems, Intel and Nvidia, to its 6G Innovation Forum (6GIF) initiative, which was launched in September 2025.

The 6GIF’s initial partners were radio access network (RAN) vendors Ericsson, Samsung, Nokia and “device and chipset innovators” Meta and Qualcomm, which were brought together by Verizon with the aim of “identifying potential new use cases, devices and network technology” for 6G. “The forum aims to establish an open, diversified and resilient 6G ecosystem and develop foundational 6G technologies while ensuring global alignment,” noted Verizon at the time. 

Now the telco has added what it describes as “nine industry heavyweights” – namely hyperscaler AWS, networking and security giant Cisco, chip firms Intel, MediaTek and Nvidia, security tech specialist Palo Alto Networks, and test and measurement vendors Keysight Technologies, Rohde & Schwarz and Viavi Solutions – to the mix. The addition of the new partners “injects critical multidisciplinary capabilities across cloud services, advanced silicon and accelerated computing, independent automated test emulation, network security and immersive device graphics simulation,” noted Verizon in this announcement.

“By expanding our Innovation Forum and refining live edge-AI trials today, we are ensuring the AI-native 6G network is built from day one to scale 5G-Advanced capabilities and translate these next-generation technologies into meaningful, real-world experiences for our customers,” noted Verizon’s CTO and senior VP of technology development, Yago Tenorio. 

“With 6G, our collaborative objective is fundamentally bottom-up and use-case driven. We are designing the next generation of connectivity with a specific target already in mind: Enabling and scaling AI workloads and the massive AI ecosystem – particularly the emerging class of AI-enabled wearables like untethered smart glasses, as well as pioneering integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) technologies,” which transform the cellular network into a “massive, distributed radar-like sensor without the need for physical cameras”. 

Tenorio has long been considering the impact of AI-enabled wearables on mobile networks and services, having presented a keynote address on the topic at TelecomTV’s DSP Leaders World Forum event in the UK in June 2025 – see Verizon CTO: We’re on the cusp of ‘another smartphone moment’.

ISAC is at the heart of Verizon’s pre-6G tests and trials, as was highlighted in TelecomTV’s recent free-to-download editorial report, The AI-Native Path to 6G, for which Tenorio provided insights into, and context for, Verizon’s ISAC developments, as well as other AI-native 6G insights.

The US telco says that to help it “move 6G from theoretical discussion into practical reality”, it has conducted successful ISAC field trials with Samsung and Qualcomm. Using 5G-Advanced capabilities, “the companies explored how ISAC could support public safety, environmental awareness and event management, creating a path to evolve these capabilities with 6G,” noted the operator. 

Specifically, the demonstrations focused on crowd-density detection (with Samsung), and drone and vehicle safety tracking (with Qualcomm). Further details about these demos can be found in Verizon’s official 6GIF announcement. 

Samsung, now a long-time radio access network supplier to the US operator, issued its own announcement about its ISAC trial with Verizon, which you can read here.  

In a statement provided for Samsung’s press release, Tenorio noted: “Verizon’s strategy has always been focused on building an intelligent, AI-native network that translates into meaningful real-world value for our customers. Our early investments in flexible, software-driven vRAN (virtual RAN) architecture are paying off today, giving us the agility to engineer and trial groundbreaking 6G concepts like ISAC over our existing infrastructure. This field trial with Samsung proves that the network of the future will do far more than just transfer data – it will actively perceive and interact with its environment to transform venue management and public safety.”

Ji-Yun Seol, executive VP and head of product strategy for the networks business at Samsung Electronics, added: “This successful ISAC trial underscores how Verizon’s decision to adopt a software-driven, AI-powered vRAN early on laid a solid foundation, positioning the company at the forefront of the 6G journey. With this approach, forward-thinking operators like Verizon are unlocking untapped potential, spearheading the shift toward a new era where unprecedented services, devices and use cases converge on next-generation networks.”

The telco also recently shared that it had teamed up with US aerospace giant Lockheed Martin, Nvidia and others to demonstrate how existing 5G networks can power AI-enabled systems capable of identifying, tracking and monitoring unmanned aerial systems (UASs) using pre-ISAC capabilities. 

Verizon has also showcased a “prototype of an AI Sports Companion application,” which, by using the telco’s edge network capabilities, showed how mobile networks of the future could support the downlink and uplink data transfer demands of AI-native devices and wearables, such as smart glasses, with ultra-low latency capabilities and “a more balanced uplink-downlink model” . 

Verizon noted: “Utilising an ultra-fast edge network with a locally optimised small language model (SLM), a Nvidia DGX Spark and statistics from SportsDataIO, the application allowed users to verbally ask for real-time player statistics, live score interpretations or game-winning probabilities, receiving instant, spoken answers right in their ear. The prototype was designed to explore how future technology could eliminate the friction of juggling multiple apps and keep fans immersed in the game while providing deep, real-time insights.”

As well as ISAC, the 6GIF partners will collaborate on demonstrations involving digital twins, robotics, AI and advanced wearables ahead of the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles (home to Verizon’s 6G Lab), which is shaping up to be “the ultimate interim proving ground on the road to commercial 6G deployment,” noted the telco. Los Angeles “will serve as a live, real-world stage to stress-test the massive capacity demands and early use cases of the AI-native era, delivering practical user experiences that prove and validate the next generation of wireless technology,” it added. 

- Ray Le Maistre, Editorial Director, TelecomTV