Politico September 12, 2025
As the global head of wireless at Qualcomm, John Smee is the architect of the company’s 6G roadmap, and also overseen Qualcomm’s 5G research. He talks to us about why 6G will enable AI systems to operate directly on devices (and why that’s a big deal), and how the government can continue building on the spectrum provisions included in this summer’s Big Beautiful Bill.
The following has been edited for length and clarity.
What’s one underrated big idea?
We can easily take it for granted [that] wireless communication works fine today. Why would we need to evolve from 5G and design a 6G system?
6G is really going to unlock value as AI is moving into the device. People get...
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