Partnering to Build an AI Native Connectivity and Perception Platform, Qualcomm's Madjida: Accelerating the 6G Standardization Process

The Mobile World Congress (MWC) is the annual global event for the mobile communications industry and has long been regarded as a “barometer” of industry development. At this year’s MWC, exhibitors showcased many research achievements and the latest progress related to 6G, indicating that the industry is actively promoting the development of the next-generation mobile communication technology.

During MWC 2026, Qualcomm announced the establishment of a new development consensus with many leading industry partners to jointly promote the development and global deployment of 6G. Nearly 60 global partners support this consensus, including about 20 Chinese partners such as China Mobile (600941), China Telecom (601728), China Unicom, China Broadcasting Network, Xiaomi, Honor, OPPO, and vivo, committed to gradually delivering commercial 6G systems starting from 2029.

Durga Malladi, Executive Vice President of Qualcomm Technologies, wrote during the MWC conference that Qualcomm is collaborating with the global industry ecosystem to accelerate the construction of AI-native high-efficiency connectivity and perception platforms, driving industry transformation and growth toward 6G. He believes that 6G is designed as an efficiency-first, AI-native system, providing generational opportunities for industry growth in three dimensions: connectivity, perception, and high-performance computing.

In the connectivity dimension, 6G will achieve a generational leap in cellular network coverage and capacity, fully adapting to the wireless data demands and uplink traffic growth driven by users, sensors, and edge AI. It will also realize energy efficiency and operational efficiency improvements through larger bandwidth, massive MIMO, advanced waveforms, and coding technologies. In perception, 6G can enable new commercial services and use cases such as digital twins, drone detection, and traffic monitoring. In high-performance computing, 6G can dynamically allocate AI and application workloads based on real-time scenarios through distributed computing, significantly improving efficiency, response speed, and scalability.

At this year’s MWC, Qualcomm also unveiled its highly anticipated end-to-end 6G prototype system. The prototype demonstrates advanced technologies such as massive MIMO, probabilistic shaping, and sub-band full duplex, further enhancing spectrum efficiency and increasing uplink and downlink throughput. These foundational innovations indicate that 6G is evolving toward smarter, more efficient systems to support future data-intensive applications. Currently, Qualcomm is working with numerous industry partners on various 6G prototypes and tests to rapidly realize the 6G vision.

Qualcomm is a global leader in wireless technology innovation. Over the past decades, from 3G, 4G to 5G, Qualcomm has continuously advanced mobile communication technologies and standards. Today, with its leading position in 6G standard development and a strong technological portfolio in areas such as modems, RF, 6G air interfaces, scalable RAN solutions, and intelligent RAN management, Qualcomm has become a trusted partner in the global 6G transition.

Malladi pointed out that Qualcomm is leveraging the foundational features of the 6G air interface to promote ultra-efficient integrated communication and sensing technologies and is accelerating the standardization process through 3GPP. With 400 MHz channel bandwidth, high-efficiency DFT-extended waveforms, cost-effective LDPC coding, and non-uniform modulation, large network capacity and deep coverage will be achievable. Introducing integrated sensing and AI-native capabilities into terminals and networks will also support the fusion of physical AI, perception, and digital twin services.

Before the opening of this year’s MWC, senior vice president of engineering at Qualcomm, Simin Zhuang, also stated in a blog that Qualcomm is actively participating in 3GPP’s research on new 6G capabilities and architectures. Based on early end-to-end 6G prototypes and interoperability work, Qualcomm is driving the development of more adaptive, intelligent, and efficient systems. Additionally, Qualcomm is promoting AI-native experiences, perception-enabled infrastructure, and radio digital twins. Drawing on experience from previous generations of mobile evolution, Qualcomm is advancing these efforts with a rigorous engineering approach and full confidence.

In February this year, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) released the “IMT-2030 Air Interface Technology Performance Indicator Report,” further defining key performance indicators. This marks the transition of 6G development from a phase of exploring technological visions to a stage of substantial progress driven by clear design goals. In this context, the development consensus established by Qualcomm and its global partners will help leverage the strengths of the global industry ecosystem, accelerate the development of 6G technology, and enable users to enjoy innovative experiences brought by technological advancements sooner.