Sovereign AI and the “Air-Gapped” Full Stack
Geopolitics is heavily dictating the physical layout of AI. Countries and enterprises do not want their highly sensitive industrial or national security data processed on foreign cloud servers.
This is where Nokia is strong!
Physical AI shifts data center geography. AI factories are being built wherever energy is available—often in remote areas—rather than near major population hubs. This creates a massive long-distance data transport bottleneck.
Where Nokia is Heavily Involved: DSX Air & AI-RAN
Nokia’s primary integration is with a specialized module called DSX Air (focused on network cloud simulation) and the NVIDIA Aerial platform.
The Telecom Infrastructure Layer: When a DSX AI factory is built specifically to power telecom networks or edge-computing towers (what Nokia calls a “Distributed AI Factory”), Nokia’s SR Linux software and radio network stacks are deeply integrated.
Joint Ventures: Nokia, NVIDIA, and operators like Ooredoo are actively collaborating on projects like Zankore, a 1-Gigawatt DSX AI factory pipeline in Southeast Asia heavily geared toward sovereign AI and telecom cloud infrastructure.