Palo Alto Networks: Securing AI Factories & Telco Ecosystems

Palo Alto Networks has unveiled an expanded security ecosystem at Mobile World Congress 2026 in Barcelona, aimed at protecting what it calls ‘AI Factories’, which are large-scale AI infrastructure that underpins digital services.

The initiative places telecom networks at the centre of securing AI workloads, from hyperscale data centres to distributed 5G and IoT environments.

The company frames AI factories as the core to digital infrastructure. These environments combine high-performance computing (HPC) clusters and high-capacity networking to train and run artificial intelligence models.

As operators deploy multi-terabit connectivity and dense compute resources, security is being embedded into network design from the outset.

Embedding security into telecom-led AI infrastructure

AI workloads require multi-terabit throughput, which is data transmission capacity measured in trillions of bits per second, alongside tightly integrated compute clusters. This means rethinking power and cooling for telecom operators, and how security integrates into routing and traffic management.

The new ecosystem brings together Nokia, U Mobile, Aeris and Celerway Communication. It aims to secure both the physical and digital layers of AI infrastructure across telecom networks and sovereign data centres while distributed edge sites will also be secured.

“We are establishing the secure foundation for the AI economy through extensive ecosystem collaboration,” says Anand Oswal, Executive Vice President at Palo Alto Networks.

“By seamlessly integrating our AI-powered security services directly from the datacenter into the most vital 5G and IoT networks globally, we are ensuring the AI Factory is secure by design.

“These partnerships enable us to create a secure digital infrastructure capable of managing the multi-terabit throughput required for training AI models.”

Palo Alto's collaboration with Nokia will support European AI gigafactories, which are large sovereign facilities designed to host advanced AI training and inference. The partnership combines Nokia’s AI data centre infrastructure with Palo Alto Networks’ security platforms, which links IP routing in addition to optical transport and security enforcement.

“In the race to build the world's AI Factories, you cannot leave the door open at the infrastructure layer,” says Greg Dorai, Senior Vice President and General Manager, IP Networks at Nokia.

“Nokia and Palo Alto Networks jointly envision comprehensive architectural and operational frameworks that expand security solutions from the network layer to workloads.

“The validated architecture will allow our customers to build future-proof, sovereign data centres. We aren't just providing connectivity, we are protecting the physical and digital integrity of industrial digitisation at scale.”

By extending controls from the network layer into workloads running on servers, operators can align data sovereignty requirements with performance and scalability targets.

Extending 5G and IoT protection

Beyond core AI facilities, Palo Alto Networks is expanding its ecosystem into live telecom environments that supply data to AI systems. Its partnerships with U Mobile, Aeris and Celerway Communication focus on embedding protection directly into 4G and 5G infrastructure and large-scale IoT deployments.

In Malaysia, Palo Alto Networks has signed a memorandum of understanding with 5G provider U Mobile to collaborate on a network-embedded Security as a Service model. This integrates next-generation firewalls and AI-driven threat detection into the mobile network itself.

The Aeris partnership targets IoT. Integrating Aeris IoT Watchtower with Prisma SASE 5G means enterprises can apply data loss prevention and zero trust policies from a single control point. Zero trust policies use security models in which every device and user must continuously verify identity and authorisation.

This is important for sectors like healthcare, manufacturing, retail and utilities, as it reduces exposure created by millions of connected devices feeding AI platforms.

Celerway Communication extends this model to the distributed edge. Its partnership with Palo Alto Networks VM Series Next Generation Firewalls allows 5G edge devices used by first responders and remote teams to maintain encrypted data integrity and a consistent security posture in high-mobility or isolated locations.

A unified telecom security framework

Taken together, the ecosystem reflects how telecom operators approach AI infrastructure design, as securing training pipelines, inference services and data flows from edge to core now sits alongside capacity planning.

Palo Alto Networks and its partners are working towards a single framework that integrates network and device protection by aligning data centre platforms with 5G cores and IoT management systems in addition to edge networking, 

For operators investing in sovereign AI capacity, validated architectures offer a way to embed compliance and performance into the same design. Using this model, telecom networks are forming an active security layer within the AI factory itself.