At the world's largest mobile communications expo, MWC 2026 (hereafter MWC), held this month in Barcelona, Spain, the 6G (sixth-generation mobile communications) front is being rapidly reorganized. Even though standards have not yet been established, global corporations are moving clearly to form alliances first and lock in default architectural settings. If Korea planted the first flag in the market with the "world's first commercialization" during the 5G (fifth-generation mobile communications) era, the 6G fight is unfolding earlier over "who draws the blueprint." But there is criticism that U.S. big tech such as Nvidia and Qualcomm stand at the center of that blueprint, while Korean corporations are staying at the level of "participation."
◇ 6G alliance led by U.S. big tech
According to the industry on the 7th, Nvidia and Qualcomm each announced the launch of a 6G alliance at MWC 2026, moving to consolidate their forces. The Nvidia 6G alliance includes major telecom operators such as SK Telecom of Korea, BT Group of the United Kingdom, Deutsche Telekom of Germany, T-Mobile of the United States, and SoftBank of Japan, as well as telecom equipment companies such as Cisco, Ericsson, and Nokia. Nvidia formed the alliance on the view that 6G will be the foundation of "physical AI" that consolidates autonomous vehicles, sensors, and robots. The goal is to shift the next-generation wireless network infrastructure to a software-based model and apply artificial intelligence (AI) across communications networks.
Internet of Things (IoT) companies and information technology (IT) device companies gathered into a Qualcomm-centered "6G alliance." More than 30 global corporations in connected mobility, mobile communications, IoT devices, and mobile devices joined this alliance. From Korea, LG Electronics and the three mobile carriers participated. They plan to research and develop various devices and data services, as well as air and ground traffic management services, by leveraging AI-based 6G technology. Along with the 6G alliance, Qualcomm also presented a roadmap aiming to implement commercial 6G systems by 2029.
◇ Supply-side Nvidia vs. demand-side Qualcomm, a preemptive gambit in the standardization war
The scene that symbolizes this phase is the split between the "Nvidia alliance" and the "Qualcomm alliance." Telecom operators and communications infrastructure companies gathered around Nvidia, while Autonomous Driving and Internet of Things (IoT) and IT device companies regrouped around Qualcomm. The two camps are similar in that they define 6G not as an extension of human-to-human communications but as a "physical AI" infrastructure where autonomous devices, sensors, and robots are consolidated in real time. However, their approaches to seizing the initiative are completely opposite.
Nvidia is seeking to bind together telecom operators and equipment vendors that supply networks to redesign the "network itself." By putting AI radio access network (AI-RAN) and network automation at the forefront, it is closer to a plan to reconstitute communications infrastructure with graphics processing unit (GPU)-based computing. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's emphasis that "AI is redefining computing and driving the largest infrastructure buildout in human history, and next up is communications" is in the same vein.
Qualcomm aims to preempt "demand and use cases" by uniting the device and service ecosystems that consume the network. Underlying this is the judgment that what functions are needed in terminals, mobility, and the Internet of Things (IoT), and how they are implemented, ultimately feed back into chipset and standard requirements. The assessment is that even before standards are completed, the trend of forging a favorable battlefield through alliances has become more explicit.
◇ Korea's task: from "participation" to "securing a share of contribution"
At this point, Korea's concerns grow. Among domestic telecom operators, only SK Telecom joined Nvidia's 6G alliance, while a trend formed in which all three carriers participated in the Qualcomm alliance. A wider breadth of participation is not grounds for relief. Simply putting a name on an alliance roster makes it difficult to secure a "share of contribution" in technology standards and the 6G ecosystem. For AI-RAN and network automation software, integrated sensing and communications (ISAC), non-terrestrial network (NTN) interworking, and energy efficiency—seen as the decisive battlegrounds of 6G—to be included as "Korea's proposed defaults," we must first take control of reference implementations and validation frameworks. Standard proposals without empirical data and operational experience are bound to lose strength at the negotiating table.
The government has unveiled a "hyper AI network strategy," presenting commercial 6G in 2030 and a pilot service linked to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. It also set numerical goals such as building more than 500 6G-based AI-RAN sites at industrial and service hubs, a 20% market share, and preemption of 30% of standard-essential patents. The direction is right. But the density of execution deserves further scrutiny. While it said it would invest 290 billion won from 2026 in network technology development through demonstration and commercialization, the budget allocated to "next-generation network (6G) industrial technology development," presented as the core of the 6G R&D track, came to only 106.8 billion won. Compared with the plan to invest a 10 trillion won-scale budget in AI, criticism is inevitable that 6G—the foundational layer of AI infrastructure—appears to have a lower investment priority.
Shin Min-soo, a professor at Hanyang University and current Commissioner of the Presidential Advisory Council on Science & Technology, said, "There is a great need to invest in communications infrastructure as a springboard for AI, but actual investment seems to fall short," adding, "Korea, which has world-class communications infrastructure, has strengths in leading global standards in the AI infrastructure institutional sector. While participating in global big tech alliances, it is also necessary to build a 6G alliance with Korean corporations at its core." He added, "A business revenue model resulting from 6G deployment must also be considered in advance."
6G is not a "generational shift in communications" but the operating system of AI competition. Depending on who effectively makes the AI-RAN automation stack the standard and builds trust by verifying integrated sensing and communications (ISAC) and non-terrestrial network (NTN) interworking on commercial networks, Korea could once again become a leader—or remain a follower that buys finished products.
Ahn Jeong-sang, an adjunct professor at Chung-Ang University's Graduate School of Communication, said, "An alliance is not a boat we ride together but a venue for competition over equity," and advised, "If Korea is to turn its 5G experience into 6G capability, it must first hurry to establish a national testbed and an open reference stack that prove contribution (to standard-setting), rather than mere alliance participation. Otherwise, 6G is likely to be recorded as a technology that Korea simply rides along with."