China Unicom and ZTE Release 5GAxI UniMAX Ubiquitous Deterministic Connectivity Solution to Empower 5G-A+AI Convergence

• China Unicom and ZTE jointly released the 5G^AxI UniMAX innovative solution for ubiquitous deterministic connectivity, addressing the new network challenges brought by the explosive growth of Mobile AI
• UniMAX leverages the built-in dedicated AI acceleration computing capabilities of base stations to construct a simplified and flattened wireless intelligent architecture.
• Building on this foundation, it achieves breakthroughs in three key air-interface technologies driven by AI, laying a solid capability foundation for the full realization of AI-native networks

Barcelona, Spain, 5 March 2026 - ZTE Corporation (0763.HK / 000063.SZ), a global leading provider of integrated information and communication technology solutions, in partnership with China Unicom, today released 5G^AxI UniMAX at MWC Barcelona 2026, an innovative solution for ubiquitous deterministic connectivity in the AI era, to address new network challenges brought by the explosive growth of Mobile AI.

Amid the global wave of Mobile AI, emerging applications such as agents, embodied intelligence and AI glasses are gaining rapid traction, profoundly reshaping human-machine interaction and industrial models. Driven by these trends, AI traffic is experiencing explosive growth and is projected to account for 50% of total traffic by 2031, marking a paradigm shift in uplink-downlink traffic distribution. Wireless networks are now confronted with new demands for high reliability, massive uplink capacity and intensive computing-power collaboration, while traditional networks can hardly adapt to the "always-on" intelligent era.

To tackle these industry-wide challenges, China Unicom and ZTE have leveraged in-depth technological innovation to launch the 5G^AxI UniMAX solution. Built on dedicated on-base-station AI acceleration engines, UniMAX features a simplified and flattened wireless intelligent architecture. It achieves breakthroughs in three core technologies:

· Uni-PHY: Reduces protocol overhead within a cell

· Uni-Cell: Mitigates inter-cell interference and improves user experience

· Uni-Band: Lowers latency and enhances spectrum efficiency across frequency layers

Integrated with a deterministic connection orchestration engine, the solution enables hierarchical intelligent control and precise response from the network level down to network elements.

Field trials at scale have verified that the solution not only guarantees differentiated service experience but also improves user experience consistency and spectrum efficiency. It effectively resolves long-standing industry pain points, including sharp experience degradation at cell edges, and capacity constraints caused by interference and overhead in dense networking. This lays a stable, efficient and intelligent network foundation for the large-scale commercialization of Mobile AI.

Wang Rui, General Manager of the Co-Construction & Sharing Working Group at China Unicom, stated: "Over the past two years, the rapid development of new AI technologies represented by intelligent agents has profoundly transformed human-machine interaction and industrial patterns. AI and 5G-A have become the dual core engines powering the digital economy." He added that China Unicom remains committed to innovation while upholding fundamental principles. By advancing its "5G-A Action Plan", the company accelerates technological synergy between 5G-A and AI, driven by the dual wheels of "AI-intelligentized network" and "network-empowered AI". This strategy enables intelligent network upgrading and integrated "connectivity + computing power" support at the edge. Going forward, China Unicom will join hands with industrial partners including ZTE to further deepen convergence and innovation of 5G-A and AI technologies, expand application scenarios, build a robust industrial ecosystem, and inject strong momentum into the development of the digital economy.

Sun Fangping, Senior Vice President of ZTE, pointed out: "AI technologies have successfully crossed the key threshold from laboratory research to industrial deployment. Diversified scenarios such as intelligent agents, embodied intelligence and AI glasses are accelerating widespread adoption. Coupled with the maturity and commercialization of efficient models like DeepSeek, edge-side rapid inference has achieved a revolutionary leap forward."

This transformation has upgraded the core requirements of mobile networks from "basic connectivity availability" to "deterministic stability and reliability". Therefore, 5G-A ubiquitous deterministic connectivity will become a cornerstone supporting the large-scale development of Mobile AI.

The jointly launched 5G^AxI UniMAX solution centers on deep technological synergy between 5G-A and AI. With core advantages of high bandwidth, superior experience and high spectrum efficiency, it builds deterministic network connectivity to empower AI applications and promote the inclusive development of intelligent technologies.

In the future, ZTE will continue to deepen cooperation with China Unicom, focusing on collaborative innovation of 5G-A and AI to jointly address challenges in the intelligent era and embrace a new chapter of infinite intelligence.

This launch marks another milestone in the innovative partnership between the two companies. China Unicom and ZTE will further strengthen their strategic cooperation, join hands with global industrial partners to promote two-way empowerment between mobile communications and AI, accelerate the development of 5G-A and evolution toward 6G, build a prosperous intelligent connectivity ecosystem, and stride forward into a new era of Mobile AI.