5G-A and AI integration are accelerating Mobile AI

During MWC Shanghai 2025 this past June, 150 guests, including top-tier executives from leading telecommunications firms, AI innovators, and academic pioneers, met at the Mobile Broadband Forum (MBBF) Top Talk Summit to discuss the huge opportunities emerging from the deep convergence of ICT and AI technologies.

During the event, various sources, including carriers and equipment vendors, revealed that China's user base of 5G-Advanced (5G-A) communications services had already surpassed 10 million. This milestone indicates that, within one year of its launch, 5G-A (the next evolutionary step in 5G technology) has entered a new phase of accelerated commercial deployment. A consensus was reached by event attendees that the deep integration of 5G-A with AI is driving unprecedented industrial transformation, and mobile networks powered by 5G-A are expected to unleash greater potential.

In manufacturing sectors, 5G-A's low latency and high bandwidth are critical enablers of high-precision sensing and decision-making based on embodied AI. Powered by 5G-A networks, embodied AI can collect and process vast amounts of data in real time to complete the "sensing > decision > execution" cycle, minimizing production risks while maximizing efficiency. Chang Lin, CEO of Leju Robot, said: "As robots become integral to production and daily life, their connectivity will have to go beyond merely being stable to being intelligent—as latency is just a foundational capability and collaborative decision-making will be the true game-changer."

In the supply chain industry, 5G-A's wide coverage and AI-assisted route planning combined can boost efficiency and slash costs. For instance, 5G-A networks support smart logistics by enabling more efficient drone route planning, which greatly shortens delivery times and lowers OPEX.

Technologically, 5G-A needs to evolve beyond its conventional role as a connectivity pipe to function as an experience platform capable of supporting real-time interaction among billions of active mobile AI agents. The advancement of 5G-A will depend on not only technology advances, but also a profound transformation of network infrastructure and operational paradigms.

Interactive mobile AI applications are driving the evolution of network architecture in order to achieve ultra-low latency, high determinism, and large uplink capacity. The multi-modal, real-time, and immersive interaction experiences provided by on-device AI applications will pose higher requirements on uplink capabilities. For instance, in home scenarios, multi-modal interaction with companion robots needs ubiquitous 64 Mbps uplink speeds. In industrial scenarios, expanded IoT adoption and ubiquitous intelligent connectivity will require increasingly higher uplink speeds. For example, applications like intelligent cockpits, vehicle-cloud synergy, and vehicle-road synergy need 20 Mbps uplink speeds and 20 ms latency to ensure a seamless experience. Driven by mobile AI, networks are shifting from focusing on downlink capabilities to equally emphasizing both uplink and downlink capabilities, and from simply providing connectivity services to offering digital and intelligent services.

From a commercial perspective, premium experiences are key to 5G-A monetization. 5G-A's ability to deliver smooth experiences for applications requiring low latency and high bandwidth (such as cloud gaming and multi-view immersive sports streaming) is creating more user-friendly payment patterns. This experience-first approach is establishing business growth opportunities as consumers demonstrate increased willingness to pay for quality-of-service guarantees.

David Wang, Huawei's Executive Director of the Board, has said that Huawei and other industry stakeholders are already working together on five areas that can act as levers to drive 5G-A growth, including large uplink bandwidth, diversified device ecosystems, multi-modal intelligent services, all-scenario IoT capabilities, and diverse business models.