NVIDIA Survey Shows 89% of Telcos Boosting AI Spend in 2026

Nearly nine in ten telecommunications companies plan to increase their AI budgets this year, a sharp jump from 65% just twelve months ago, according to NVIDIAs fourth annual State of AI in Telecommunications survey released February 19, 2026.

The numbers tell a clear story: AI adoption in telecom has crossed from experimental to essential. Ninety percent of survey respondents—drawn from roughly 1,000 industry participants—reported that AI is driving revenue growth while simultaneously cutting costs.

Autonomous Networks Lead ROI Rankings

Network automation has overtaken customer experience as the top investment priority. Half of respondents cited autonomous networks as their best-performing AI use case for return on investment, followed by customer service improvements at 41% and internal process optimization at 33%.

“Autonomous networks deliver immediate ROI by eliminating human effort from repetitive, reactive workflows,” said Sebastian Barros, managing director of Singapore-based telecom provider Circles. He pointed to energy management, fault prediction, and capacity planning as the fastest impact areas.

The industry appears to be betting big on self-managing infrastructure. Sixty-five percent of operators now report that AI drives their network automation efforts, with 88% of organizations currently operating between levels 1-3 of autonomy on the TM Forums scale. Generative and agentic AI tools are expected to push more companies toward level 5—fully autonomous operations.

AI-Native Networks Racing Ahead of 6G

Perhaps the most striking finding: 77% of respondents expect AI-native networks to launch before traditional 6G deployment timelines. Telcos aren‘t waiting for the next generation wireless standard—they’re building AI into existing infrastructure now.

Investment drivers include using AI to enhance spectral efficiency, improving radio access network performance for edge applications, and accelerating 6G R&D. Edge computing investment is surging as operators push AI inferencing closer to end users.

This tracks with broader market projections. The global AI in telecommunications market, valued at $2.41 billion in 2022, is expected to hit $36.38 billion by 2029—a compound annual growth rate exceeding 40%.

Generative AI Adoption Jumps

Sixty percent of survey participants reported using or evaluating generative AI, up from 49% in 2024. The productivity impact is nearly universal—virtually every respondent said AI boosts employee output, with 26% citing major improvements in task completion quality and speed.

“Generative AI delivered fast productivity gains, but agentic AI is where telecoms begin to see structural ROI,” noted Chetan Sharma, CEO of Chetan Sharma Consulting. “Autonomous agents can act across networks, IT and customer journeys, turning insights into decisions without human delay.”

Open source models matter to this buildout. Eighty-nine percent of respondents called open source software important to their AI strategy—a signal that proprietary lock-in concerns remain top of mind even as spending accelerates.

Barros framed the shift bluntly: telecom operators are evolving from companies that move data across networks into “AICOs”—AI infrastructure companies operating at network proximity. For NVIDIA, which supplies much of the underlying compute hardware, that transition represents a substantial and growing revenue opportunity.