Broadcom previews AI-native VMware Telco Cloud 9 for MNOs

Broadcom has outlined plans for VMware Telco Cloud Platform 9, positioning the next version as a private cloud platform for telecommunications data centres focused on sovereign cloud requirements and AI workloads.

Broadcom presented the product direction at Mobile World Congress 2026. The platform will run on VMware Cloud Foundation 9 and add telco-specific functions. Broadcom described the update as a single platform for 4G and 5G core network functions and data-intensive AI workloads.

Telecoms operators are facing rising infrastructure costs as they expand network capacity and add compute for analytics and automation. At the same time, governments and regulators have tightened expectations on data residency and operational control for critical national infrastructure. Broadcom's roadmap reflects both trends, combining efficiency measures with compliance controls.

Efficiency targets

VMware Telco Cloud Platform 9 is designed to increase server utilisation and reduce energy use in telco environments. Broadcom estimated a 40% cumulative five-year total cost of ownership saving compared with "siloed architectures". It also forecast a 25% to 30% reduction in power consumption through higher virtual machine density and improved server performance.

To address memory and server costs, Broadcom highlighted Advanced NVMe Memory Tiering, which uses NVMe storage as a tier for memory expansion. The company estimated this could lower memory and server TCO by 38%. For storage, it pointed to vSAN ESA Global Deduplication, which it said could reduce storage TCO by an estimated 38% by cutting duplicated data blocks across a cluster.

"Hardware costs are spiraling out of control, and the global demand for memory resulting from AI will further accelerate rising server prices. VMware Telco Cloud Platform, built on the industry's most widely-deployed private cloud platform technology, helps telcos dramatically reduce both their CAPEX and OPEX," said Paul Turner, Chief Product Officer, VMware Cloud Foundation Division, Broadcom.

AI services

Broadcom described Telco Cloud Platform 9 as "AI-native" and outlined planned functions aimed at AI service delivery, including Private AI-as-a-Service, GPU virtualisation and GPU-as-a-Service. Plans also include enhanced monitoring for physical and virtual GPUs.

The Private AI-as-a-Service proposal includes native tools such as a model store, model runtime and vector databases. Broadcom said operators could use these to offer AI environments with data isolation and compliance controls. GPU virtualisation would split a physical GPU across multiple virtual machines, which Broadcom said improves utilisation and reduces the need for dedicated hardware per workload.

Broadcom described GPU-as-a-Service as a multi-tenant model offering on-demand access to virtualised GPU resources, enabling service providers to scale AI infrastructure while keeping customer data logically isolated.

"VMware Telco Cloud Platform 9 will empower telco operators to deliver the secure, sovereign, AI-native infrastructure that drives next-gen technology adoption, revenue acceleration and lowers costs," said Turner.

Operations changes

Operational automation is another part of the roadmap. Broadcom plans automated lifecycle management for private AI environments to reduce manual setup and patching. It also outlined an "Agent Builder Service", described as a low-code framework for building AI agents by orchestrating models, data retrieval and tool connections.

The roadmap also includes changes to Kubernetes operations, with a modernised Containers as a Service lifecycle management model and carrier-oriented upgrade options. Broadcom described unified GitOps-based automation, offering either an ETSI-compliant approach or a GitOps blueprint using ArgoCD. A central dashboard is planned for fleet management, cost control and licensing.

For availability and maintenance, ESX Live Patching is intended to let administrators apply critical security updates to hosts without maintenance windows or disruption to active virtual machines.

Sovereign controls

Sovereign cloud has become a central procurement requirement for many public sector and regulated industry workloads in Europe and elsewhere. Broadcom said Telco Cloud Platform 9 will include "architectural guardrails" aligned with sovereign requirements, emphasising local control, verification and in-border operations.

Planned elements include in-jurisdiction operations for subscriber data, telemetry and management plane functions within user-defined borders. Broadcom also outlined cryptographic authority features designed to let telcos retain exclusive control over encryption keys.

The roadmap includes audit-grade evidence through logging and automation to provide continuous records of platform health, alongside automated compliance and policy enforcement using hardening kits and a Kubernetes policy manager based on Open Policy Agent. Broadcom also listed a centralised SecOps dashboard, confidential computing support for secure enclaves from AMD and Intel, and lateral security using VMware vDefend for micro-segmentation and zero-trust controls.

Industry reaction

BT, Nokia and Canonical commented on their work with VMware Telco Cloud Platform and their expectations for continued collaboration.

"In today's interconnected world, reliable and robust telecommunications cloud infrastructure is paramount," said Greg McCall, Chief Networks Officer at BT. "VMware Telco Cloud Platform provides the flexibility, scalability, and reliability that BT needs to help to deliver award-winning mobile voice and messaging services across the UK. We are looking forward to continuing to build upon the success of our long-term partnership with Broadcom."

"The integration with VMware Telco Cloud Platform shows how Nokia's multi-cloud strategy helps telecommunication providers ensure requisite automation, security, resilience and scaling," said Kal De, Senior Vice President, Core Software, Nokia.

"Canonical is committed to making the benefits of reliable open source software a tangible reality for the telecommunications industry," said Ivan Ramos, Global Head of Telco at Canonical. "As part of our collaboration with Broadcom, we're optimizing the Linux operating system for VMware Telco Cloud Platform customers: Ubuntu helps reduce time to deployment, improves network function performance, enables simplified GPU deployment in air-gapped environments and natively runs AI/ML workloads - all on the same platform."

Broadcom's next steps focus on delivering the planned Telco Cloud Platform 9 functions, including cost-reduction measures, GPU resource sharing, and controls for in-country operations and cryptographic key ownership.