LG Artificial Intelligence (AI) Research, LG Group’s research lab, has released its new inference AI model, EXAONE Deep, as an open-source model at Nvidia’s annual developer conference, GTC 2025, in the US. The company claimed that EXAONE Deep is currently the only South Korean model capable of competing with other global inference AI models.
1. LG unveils inference AI EXAONE Deep as an open-source model
In AI, reasoning refers to the logical process of using knowledge to solve problems, draw conclusions, and make predictions. Applying this reasoning to solve a specific problem is called inference. Currently, only a handful of major global tech firms have foundation AI models featuring inference AI.
EXAONE Deep, the base model, boasts 32 billion parameters, which is only 5 percent of the size of DeepSeek R1, yet it achieved superior inference performance. The EXAONE Deep 32B model scored 94.5 points in the CSAT mathematics section and 90.0 points on the AIME 2024 (American Invitational Mathematics Examination), which serves as a qualifying standard for the US Olympiad selection process, demonstrating the highest performance among competing models, LG AI said.
LG AI Research, in a blog post on March 18, said, “EXAONE Deep excels in understanding mathematical logic, reasoning about scientific concepts, and solving programming problems, making it a high-performance model specialised in advanced reasoning,” adding that the LG AI focused on “dramatically improving Reasoning performance in Math, Science, and Coding while ensuring the model’s ability to understand and apply knowledge across various domains.”
Exaone Deep-32B was listed on the Notable AI Models list selected by the US non-profit AI research organisation Epoch AI upon its open-source release. This marks another achievement following EXAONE 3.5, making EXAONE the only Korean model to be listed in the past two years, the company said.
2. Turk Telekom, Cisco to Jointly Provide AI-based Cloud Services in Turkiye
Turkiye’s state-owned telecommunication company, Turk Telekom has signed a goodwill agreement with US-based networking company Cisco at Mobile World Congress 2025 to localise and expand the application of AI-powered cloud-based services in Turkiye, with a focus on accelerating the adoption of 5G services.
Under the terms of the deal, Cisco’s Mobility Services Platform, which supports the management of Internet of Things (IoT) devices and SIM cards, will be integrated into Turk Telekom’s data centers. This collaboration aims to enhance customer experience and drive innovation through 5G-supported cloud solutions, the companies announced on March 7.
Turk Telekom CEO said, “With our collaboration with Cisco, we bring together advanced cloud-based solutions supported by artificial intelligence that will accelerate the digital transformation of companies and institutions with users through our data centers. While advanced cloud-based solutions supported by artificial intelligence become more important with the opportunities provided by 5G, we will continue to offer innovative services as the most ready operator for 5G.”
Also Read: Ericsson and Turk Telekom Sign 6G Collaboration Agreement: MWC25
3. SoftBank Demonstrates AI-driven RAN performance Enhancement with Nvidia and Fujitsu
SoftBank has conducted verification tests on three use cases to improve wireless performance as part of its efforts to realise “AI for RAN” (Radio Access Network). The tests – Uplink Channel Interpolation, Sounding Reference Signals Prediction and AI-driven MAC Scheduling – successfully demonstrated the effectiveness of AI in enhancing RAN performance, according to the Japanese operator.
SoftBank added that the wireless performance improvements demonstrated in these three use cases are expected to not only enhance customer communication quality but also contribute to the capacity expansion of SoftBank’s wireless network.
“To accommodate the increasing traffic in wireless networks, capacity expansion has traditionally been achieved by deploying additional base stations. However, the results of this AI for RAN verification demonstrate that capacity expansion can be achieved without deploying new base stations, indicating that AI for RAN has the potential to reduce the need for investment in base station infrastructure,” SoftBank explained.
Additionally, SoftBank said it has developed a system-level simulator as a verification platform to efficiently evaluate the enhancement of RAN performance through AI technology. By utilising this simulator, various AI-driven effects can be tested efficiently, enabling more effective verification of AI applications in RAN.
Looking ahead, SoftBank said it will continue to advance the development of AI-driven communication technologies to deliver higher-quality communication services.
Ryuji Wakikawa, Vice President and Head of the Research Institute of Advanced Technology at SoftBank said: “AI for RAN, which SoftBank is promoting, demonstrates the significant impact AI can have on enhancing RAN performance. Being able to achieve such substantial performance improvements in implementation without requiring changes to communication specifications for AI utilisation suggests the potential for major evolution of our infrastructure through AI innovation in the telecommunications industry. SoftBank will continue to drive innovation, with the goal of providing our customers with the best communication experience.”
Soma Velayutham, Vice President of Telecoms at Nvidia, added: “AI embedded into radio signal processing with a software-defined platform will deliver transformative gains and set continuous performance and efficiency benchmarks not achievable with traditional techniques. SoftBank’s innovations in AI for RAN, harnessing Nvidia AI Aerial, mark a significant milestone in progressing AI-RAN technology and underscore its ability to deliver exceptional performance and efficiency with AI.”
Shingo Mizuno, Corporate Executive Officer and EVP, Vice Head of System Platform (in charge of Network Business) at Fujitsu Limited, said: “Fujitsu has been engaged in the development of high-performance vRAN software utilizing GPUs. In our recent joint research with SoftBank and NVIDIA, Fujitsu’s AI technology contributed to the improvement of uplink performance, which we believe is a significant achievement towards the enhancement of wireless networks through the convergence of future wireless and AI technologies. We hope that the development of new technologies, including AI, will continue to provide value to even more customers and society as a whole.”
4. E& UAE Deploys Microsoft 365 Copilot Internally – Report
UAE’s telecom operator E& UAE is reportedly expanding its partnership with Microsoft by deploying Microsoft 365 Copilot at scale across its operations. The move aims to enhance workplace productivity, streamline workflows and advance AI-driven innovation. According to local press report, the company is leveraging M365 Copilot’s extensibility to develop Agentic AI solutions, allowing employees to focus on high-value innovation rather than routine tasks.
“AI is at the core of our transformation at e& UAE as we evolve into a leading AI-powered telco. Our partnership with Microsoft is a key driver of this journey. The deployment of M365 Copilot at this scale will help us build an AI-powered workplace operations, empower our workforce with the essential tools necessary to generate significant impact by offering intelligent solutions and delivering customer experiences that not only anticipate client needs but also personalize each interaction, thereby establishing new benchmarks within the industry,” the CEO of e& UAE was quoted as saying.
M365 Copilot is an enterprise-ready AI tool designed to enhance productivity, optimise workflows, and enable employees to focus on strategic initiatives. By automating routine tasks and streamlining complex processes, the solution allows employees to dedicate more time to creativity, problem-solving, and customer-centric innovation, the reports said.
“By leveraging the advanced capabilities of Copilot, e& UAE is not only streamlining workflows but also empowering their employees to focus on high-value tasks and drive meaningful innovation. This collaboration underscores the immense potential of AI in revolutionising business operations and setting new industry benchmarks,” the General Manager of Microsoft UAE was quoted as saying.
