5G standalone deployment hasn’t fully caught up with radio buildouts, but operators are already dealing with the next set of demands on the core. Fixed wireless access growth and rising data consumption are pushing capacity requirements higher, bringing more attention to how the core is scaled and operated. That shift is putting equal weight on performance and the practical cost of running the network.
Power efficiency has become a core part of that conversation. Throughput still matters, but it’s not the only measure that defines value. Operators are paying closer attention to how infrastructure performs under sustained workloads and how energy use can be managed over time. Intel is bringing the Intel Xeon 6+ processor into that discussion with a focus on performance per watt, along with capabilities like infrastructure power management and application-level energy telemetry. The goal is not just higher performance, but better visibility and control across workloads, paired with built-in security technologies that support those environments without adding complexity.
Many emerging 5G core use cases operate within ranges that can run on CPU-based systems, which simplifies how infrastructure can be deployed and used. That creates an opportunity to support network functions and AI workloads on the same platform. For operators making long-term infrastructure decisions, the focus is becoming more coordinated to bring together scale, efficiency, security, and flexibility in a way that fits how networks will be run over time.
Diana Goovaerts:
While 5G Core is continuing to be deployed, we're also starting to hear a lot about 5G Advanced and 6G. So in this context, what are the mobile operator trends that you're seeing in the market?
Chandresh Ruparel:
5G SA is still significantly lagging behind the access deployment of 5G, and what we are seeing is that the pace at which now the carriers are catching up is picking up significantly, and alongside that, we are continuing to see cloud-native deployments and automation. 5G Advanced is also getting deployed and there is a lot of conversation about what 6G is going to look like.
What we are seeing in the market is that while all this talk is going on, the pace of growth or need for capacity is continuing to skyrocket. We're talking about 2x, 3x increase in the capacity requirement, primarily driven by fixed wireless access, mobile data bandwidth requirements. The solution has to be very secure. The AI threats are significant. Whatever infrastructure they deploy, they are looking for AI readiness.
Diana Goovaerts:
The Intel Xeon 6+ processor is being positioned by you guys as a step change for 5G Core network performance per watt, kind of what we were just talking about. But why is it positioned to effectively support 5G Core workloads?
Chandresh Ruparel:
The need for a holistic solution, performant, power efficient, providing necessary security capability, and AI-ready. If you look at Intel Xeon 6+, what better proof point than a significant player in the market like Ericsson that demonstrated early this year at Mobile World Congress that just going from the previous generation to this generation, with the same number of threats, the improvement in performance is 30% and the improvement in performance per watt is over 55%. These are massive numbers. But that is not sufficient.
We have Intel Infrastructure Power Manager for runtime power savings, a technology that's been matured over the last few years working with carriers and partners and now in live carrier trials. In fact, just late last year, we had a very successful live trial, where over a period of three months, the carrier was able to see, and this is a major carrier that was able to see more than 35% improvement in power consumption in runtime. And this technology transcends across platforms. So it not only helps previous generation, but it works also on the newer generation, the Intel Xeon 6+. We are also introducing with Intel Xeon 6+ the Intel application Energy Telemetry. What this allows you to do is look at the power consumption at a granular level for applications and workloads.
Now, let's talk about security. It has to be performant. It has to reduce the attack surface significantly. The capabilities built into Intel Xeon 6+ really matters. So technologies like QuickAssist Technology, Security Guard Extension, SGX, TDX, so these technologies provide a reduction in attack surface and a performant security. As we work with partners and carriers on AI use cases for 5G Core, we find that the majority of these use cases involve less than 20 billion parameters, and the CPU configuration is more than sufficient for this. So you can address AI use cases with the same platform that you're deploying in the network.
With Intel Xeon 6+, what we have done is we have combined different technologies that are both hardened and providing the latest and greatest compute performance, Intel 7-based IO Tile, active base tile with Intel 3, and the compute tile is using Intel 18A. Technologies that are hardened in the past get carried over, but the compute tile is the latest and greatest technology providing very high performance. And for carriers, reliability and resilience is extremely important.
Diana Goovaerts:
If you're looking 12 to 24 months into the future, how do you see Intel Xeon 6+ continuing to support evolving 5G Core capabilities?
Chandresh Ruparel:
The telco market looks at any infrastructure solution for the long term. These are long-life products that they deploy, and servers sit in the network for a while. And so, the considerations that I talked about today are very critical for them because this is going to be over multiple years that they see the benefit. It's not just one aspect that they are trying to address. They need a holistic solution that addresses their needs.