en.Wedoany.com Reported - Qualcomm has announced that it will launch its first 6G chip in 2029, which will be fully integrated and compatible with artificial intelligence (AI). According to Qualcomm, which oversees the Snapdragon product line, the sixth generation of mobile connectivity will serve as a conduit between data centers, mobile phones, and AI, building an interconnected network. This technological evolution will drive the Internet of Things (IoT), with a focus on cloud computing and other mobile connectivity technologies. John Smee, Senior Vice President of Engineering at Qualcomm, stated that a prototype of the 6G chip is expected to be ready by 2028.
6G is the next-generation mobile network that will succeed the current 5G, but its core leap lies in processing power—capable of handling massive amounts of data without lag or latency. The core concept of this technology is to unify the physical and digital worlds, building a new infrastructure designed from the outset to support what 5G cannot yet perfectly manage.
The main turning point for 6G is that artificial intelligence will run directly at the network's foundation. In the view of Qualcomm and other companies in the processor industry, AI will no longer be just an app opened on a phone, but a permanent interface between humans and the digital world. To this end, the concept of distributed AI has emerged: processing will be shared in real time between data centers, antennas, and devices to completely resolve latency issues. With this robust structure, devices such as extended reality (XR) glasses and autonomous vehicles can leverage contextual data to make local decisions instantly.
Although Qualcomm has promised a commercial chip by 2029, the timeline depends on the technical schedule led by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). The first major milestone is the preliminary approval of Release 21 in March 2027, which will set global rules and technical foundations. Based on this standardization, manufacturers can obtain pre-commercial testing permits by 2028. Different market players are not moving in lockstep: Sweden's Ericsson adopts a more conservative timeline, expecting 6G commercialization by 2030 and projecting 180 million users by the end of 2031. The industry consensus is that the future of mobile internet is inevitably intelligent.
