India committed to spend an additional INR1.9 trillion ($19.7 billion) on boosting chip and smartphone production in the country, accelerating an initiative first laid out five years ago.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has allocated around INR1.3 trillion to provide state aid for semiconductors and a INR625 billion outlay on smartphones.

The latest investment builds on the Semicon 1.0 initiative outlined in 2021 to invest around INR1 trillion on starting and establishing the country’s semiconductor sector.

In a statement, Ashwini Vaishnaw, minister for Electronics and Information Technology, explained under the refreshed Semicon 2.0, the nation would focus on ensuring chips are being designed in India that can meet all its needs, and by the end of the programme, “we will be 100% self-reliant”.

He added every major industry leader wants to establish a presence in the country “given the growing interest in India’s semiconductor programme”, pointing to partnerships already established with the US, Japan, the European Union (EU), Netherlands, Singapore and Germany.

The minister added the investment and incentives will be aimed at projects around chip design, fabrication of machinery, R&D and talent creation.

Under the Mobile Phone Manufacturing Scheme, Vaishnaw said it would create around 60,000 direct jobs, while it will look to incentivise domestic companies with Chinese suppliers currently dominating the market.

India’s semiconductor advancement adds to similar moves in the US, which has a funding programme in place worth $52 billion. The EU recently unveiled a revamp to its own Chips Act.

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Nokia promised significant hikes in spectral efficiency over the next two years as it launched an AI-native RAN platform which relies heavily on Nvidia systems.

The AI-RAN platform is already capable of boosting spectral efficiency by 20% and Nokia stated gains of 50% and 100% would be delivered in 2027 and 2028, respectively.

It hailed the platform as “one of the most significant shifts in radio network architecture in decades”. It hopes to deliver pilot deployments by the end of the year and commercial availability in 2027.

The platform uses Nokia’s anyRAN software so operators running other network vendor’s equipment today can use it, but the bulk of the services available through Nvidia’s systems are reserved for those already using the Finnish provider’s AirScale range.

A GPU-based AirScale capacity plug-in is pitched “as the most efficient path forward”, for example. It brings Nvidia compute capabilities into current networks, “preserving existing” investments and offering the option to employ chips from Marvell Technology.

Nokia also launched a standalone AI-RAN node employing GPUs which can run on 4G and 5G networks, with forward compatibility to likely 6G infrastructure.

Various configurations are available comprising a one-node deployment, clusters and as part of a single logical base station.

GPUs also form the heart of a commercial off-the-shelf server available from Nokia’s partners which it stated would tackle any supply chain worries.

The vendor followed in rival Ericsson’s footsteps by unveiling a subscription-based model enabling operators to access software-based upgrades to equipment without swapping hardware.

Nokia president and CEO Justin Hotard said AI-RAN “makes the network intelligent” and would help operators maximise the capabilities of their current infrastructure.

Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of Nvidia, hailed the step as the dawn of a new era for the telecoms sector as the companies turn “RAN into a planet-scale AI computer”.

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Infrastructure provider Zayo revealed a planned CEO transition with former Verizon executive Sowmyanarayan Sampath (pictured) appointed as chief following the eventual retirement of Steve Smith.

Smith remains CEO until 31 August when he will retire. Sampath will take the reins on 1 September while Smith will remain on Zayo’s board following the handover.

During the transition period, Smith and Sampath will work closely with Zayo’s board and leadership team to ensure continuity for customers and stakeholders.

The company positions the leadership transition as a key element for its next phase of AI-driven growth.

Sampath brings more than two decades of large-scale digital infrastructure experience to his new role, most recently as CEO of Verizon Consumer Group.

After joining the company in 2014, he was viewed as former Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg’s likely successor after holding several key executive positions. Last year the mobile operator’s board of directors picked former PayPal chief Schulman to replace Vestberg to boost the company’s finances and subscribers.

Prior to his last position, he served as the CEO of Verizon Business starting in 2022.

He was also Chief Product Officer for the Consumer and Enterprise businesses and CFO at Verizon Media Group.

Sampath was president of Global Enterprise, where he spearheaded the commercial launch of Verizon’s 5G networks and multi-access edge computing (MEC) solutions.

He stated Zayo’s physical network footprint arrives at a moment when the global economy demands significant bandwidth capacity.

“As AI workloads, distributed applications, dense GPU clusters, and hyperscale environments change where capacity is needed, and as large enterprises manage increasingly complex connectivity needs, the network is the ultimate constraint, and Zayo is built to solve this,” he said, noting the company already connects more data centres in the US than any other provider.

During Smith’s tenure, Zayo more than tripled its planned fibre expansion, with projects now spanning more than 15,000 route miles, while advancing automation, internal AI adoption and network service improvements.

He also oversaw the acquisition of Crown Castle’s fibre and small cell assets, adding approximately 90,000 route miles and 40,000 on-net enterprise locations to Zayo’s network.

“Leading Zayo has been a privilege, and I’m deeply proud of what our team has built as we prepare the Company for the next generation of digital infrastructure,” Smith stated, adding he is confident Sampath is the right leader for Zayo’s next chapter and looks forward to supporting him from the board.

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