Broadcom Launches VMware Telco Cloud Platform 9 to Enhance AI Capabilities and Cut Telco Costs

Broadcom Inc. has announced VMware Telco Cloud Platform 9, a new version of its private cloud platform designed for telecommunications operators, with a focus on improving hardware efficiency, supporting AI workloads and meeting sovereign cloud requirements.

The company said the platform, built on VMware Cloud Foundation 9, aims to help telcos lower total cost of ownership (TCO), reduce power consumption and modernize network operations while enabling new AI-driven revenue streams.

According to Broadcom, Telco Cloud Platform 9 could deliver an estimated 40% five-year cumulative TCO savings compared to siloed architectures. The company also cited potential reductions in power consumption of 25–30%, lower memory and server TCO through Advanced NVMe Memory Tiering, and storage savings through vSAN global deduplication. These figures are based on internal estimates and third-party research.

Paul Turner, Chief Product Officer of the VMware Cloud Foundation Division at Broadcom, said rising hardware and memory costs, driven in part by AI demand, are putting pressure on telecom operators. “VMware Telco Cloud Platform, built on the industry’s most widely-deployed private cloud platform technology, helps telcos dramatically reduce both their CAPEX and OPEX,” Turner said. He added that version 9 is intended to help operators deploy secure, sovereign and AI-native infrastructure.

Focus on AI Monetization

Broadcom said the updated platform will support both traditional 4G and 5G core network functions as well as data-intensive AI workloads on a unified infrastructure. Planned capabilities include private AI-as-a-Service environments, GPU virtualization and GPU-as-a-Service to allow multiple tenants to share hardware resources securely.

Additional features include enhanced GPU monitoring, automated lifecycle management for faster AI deployment, and a low-code “Agent Builder Service” to simplify AI agent development.

Automation and Operational Efficiency

The platform is also expected to introduce AI-assisted operations and expanded automation tools aimed at improving governance, compliance and lifecycle management. Broadcom said features such as live patching, unified observability dashboards and GitOps-based automation will help telcos reduce manual errors and maintenance windows.

Hardware-focused enhancements include support for high-core-count CPUs, intelligent resource scheduling and storage optimization technologies designed to improve throughput while lowering energy consumption.

Sovereign Cloud and Compliance

Broadcom positioned Telco Cloud Platform 9 as aligned with growing digital sovereignty requirements globally. Planned capabilities include in-jurisdiction data controls, enhanced tenant isolation, cryptographic key control for local operators and automated compliance tools aligned with regulatory frameworks such as the UK Telecommunications Security Act and guidelines from NIST, NSA and CISA.

The company said the platform will also support confidential computing technologies from AMD and Intel, along with advanced threat prevention through VMware vDefend.

Executives from telecom and technology companies including BT Group, Nokia and Canonical supportied the platform’s direction, highlighting its role in improving automation, scalability and cloud-native network performance.  

Greg McCall, Chief Networks Officer at BT said, “VMware Telco Cloud Platform provides the flexibility, scalability, and reliability that BT needs to help to deliver award-winning mobile voice and messaging services across the UK.  We are looking forward to continuing to build upon the success of our long-term partnership with Broadcom.”

 “The integration with VMware Telco Cloud Platform shows how Nokia’s multi-cloud strategy helps telecommunication providers ensure requisite automation, security, resilience and scaling,” said Kal De, senior vice president, core software, Nokia. 

Broadcom said VMware Telco Cloud Platform 9 is designed to support telecom operators as they transition from connectivity providers to providers of sovereign cloud and AI-enabled infrastructure services.