Verizon got a 6G-related boost as its 6G Innovation Forum (6GIF) expanded to welcome new members.
Nine firms joined the Verizon venture, which aims to drive innovation around 6G technologies, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Nvidia, Intel, Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Keysight Technologies, MediaTek, Rohde & Schwarz, and Viavi Solutions
Verizon’s new friends join founding members Ericsson, Samsung, Nokia, Meta, and Qualcomm Technologies, who set up the forum with Verizon in late 2025.
“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," Verizon CTO Yago Tenorio commented on the additions. "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.”
Tenorio pointed to the AI spoils from untethered smart glasses, as well as integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) technology of the sort it explored with Samsung this week.
The CTO – who was recently interviewed for the latest SDxCentral magazine – recently played coy about more members joining the initiative, while even suggesting Verizon was ready “to go it alone” on 6G should other carriers not be interested.
Indeed, the forum’s new members do not count any of Verizon’s direct rivals; as Tenorio told this title, “We want to be first in the world. So how is that compatible with having others? Can we ask them to withdraw from that ambition? That’s probably not fair. I know it sounds a lot, self-centered and selfish, but if the purpose is to be first, we may have to go it alone.”
Verizon’s bait has worked as 6G interest grows. While talk of the next-generation standard seemed to be thin on the ground at this year’s Mobile World Congress (MWC) event in Barcelona, Spain, 6G development seems to have enjoyed a renaissance of late. Product announcements have come thick and fast from Japan’s KDDI, Qualcomm, Viavi Solutions, Europe, and more, while the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) recently made both a "call to action" for partner nations willing to align on standards for 6G networks, as well as granting a $53 billion boost for AI radio access network (AI-RAN) technologies.
Recent research from Dell'Oro Group projected cumulative 6G RAN revenue expected to top $100 billion by 2034, with global wireless capital expenditure amassing $500 billion.