Linux Foundation, NVIDIA Want 6G Open Source. Washington Agrees.
The Linux Foundation launches OCUDU, an open source CU/DU stack backed by US FutureG funding.
In the early 2000s, Linux altered the balance of power in computing. It dismantled the tight vertical integration model that vendors like Sun and IBM relied on and replaced it with a shared software foundation that ran on almost any hardware. The operating system stopped being a proprietary control point and became a common infrastructure. Value moved up the stack. Ecosystems expanded. The industry shifted from closed systems to programmable platforms.
Two decades later, a similar attempt is unfolding in telecom. A Western coalition led by the Linux Foundation, seeded by US FutureG funding and joined by NVIDIA, DeepSig, Ericsson, and Nokia, is pushing to create a “Linux of RAN” through the OCUDU initiative. The target is the CU and DU layer, the programmable heart of the radio network. If this effort gains real deployment, it could reshape a 35 to 40 billion dollar RAN market, open the baseband layer to new entrants, and accelerate a structural split in 6G between Western and Chinese ecosystems.
