Qualcomm President Cristiano Amon Reveals How 6G Will Power the AI Revolution and Transform India's Tech Landscape

In an insightful interview with NDTV's Vishnu Som, Qualcomm President Cristiano R Amon shared compelling perspectives on the evolution of telecommunication technology and India's technological journey.

The Indian telecom landscape has witnessed remarkable transformations over recent years. From the progression of 2G to 3G, 4G, and now 5G, the future holds even more promise. Behind this technological advancement lies a narrative of innovation, design, and manufacturing - areas where Qualcomm has become increasingly relevant in the Indian context.

During his conversation with NDTV, Amon articulated how 6G represents the connectivity infrastructure for the artificial intelligence era. "We started with 2G... 3G was about connecting to the Internet, 4G was about broadband and making the phone into a computer, 5G was about making sure that everyone could have unlimited data rates... 6G is the connectivity for the age of AI," he explained.

Beyond providing enhanced speed and more economical communication, Amon emphasized that 6G will implement "sensing networks" - a critical component for AI advancement. "We are now in the era of networks that understand the context of communications and a lot of data is going to be important for AI. That leads into this whole conversation about how AI is evolving and I think communications is going to evolve as well and that's what 6G is all about," the Qualcomm executive stated.

When asked about the evolution of common AI services over the next five years, Amon confidently predicted significant acceleration. "I think some of the revolutions are about to start right now. When you think about the history of computers, I can probably bet the computer that you use the most is your smartphone and is your inseparable device. What's happening is AI gets developed in a data centre and gets into commercial applications... That's going to be in your phone, on your PC, in your car, in your future smart device," he elaborated.

Amon highlighted the transformative nature of AI on computing devices: "We're starting to see how AI is fundamentally changing those computers because one of the many capabilities of AI is to understand us. We don't have to learn how to use the computer anymore. The AI understands what we say, understands what we write, understands what we see. I think we're starting to see the beginning of what we call agentic experience, agents that are going to be the new apps. We're going to see that happen in all the devices."

Regarding India's technological landscape, Amon characterized it as "100 per cent empowerment," referencing widely adopted systems like UPI. "It's well understood, if you empower people with connectivity, with computing, with access to knowledge via the internet, you create economic activity. You create opportunity. I think we have seen that. We have seen the transformation, I would dare to say, in the transformation of India to where India is today and where India is going, in the connectivity and smartphones and the mobile Internet. It was one important component among many others," he told NDTV.

He advocated for a similar approach to AI: "I think the same needs to be applied when we think about AI. We should be working very hard to democratise this technology and make sure that everyone has access to it..."

The Qualcomm President also mentioned his "very privileged" conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "I'm always inspired by the Prime Minister. It's my third meeting I had with him. But what is interesting about this meeting in particular is the vision for India in the India AI Mission and the India Semiconductor Mission. There is a great intersection with Qualcomm. Look, we have been in India for two decades. There's so many things we have been doing in India. We're very proud of our partnerships here in all of the sectors from automotive to PC to smartphone," he concluded.