Jane Edwards 
Booz Allen Hamilton’s venture capital arm has invested in O-RAN Development Co. to support the development of artificial intelligence-native technologies for 5G and emerging 6G networks.
Booz Allen said Thursday its strategic investment is part of ODC’s Series A funding round.
“At Booz Allen, we’re advancing AI-native wireless networks that strengthen resilience and bring AI to the edge,” said Chris Christou, senior vice president and 5G/NextG lead at Booz Allen. “By leveraging our deep engineering and mission expertise with ODC’s innovative technology, we’re helping bring next-generation wireless capabilities to environments where speed, adaptability, and reliability matter most.”
In a recent Executive Spotlight interview, Christou discussed Booz Allen’s work on AI Wireless Innovation Network, or AI WIN; 5G security practices; and emerging capabilities such as integrated sensing and communications that are expected to support future 6G standards.
What Is the Strategic Purpose of the Investment?
The investment from Booz Allen Ventures will help accelerate the development of NextG capabilities that support mission-critical communications and future network infrastructure. It also aims to advance adaptive communications capabilities through AI-radio access network, or AI-RAN, technologies, which help embed AI directly into network infrastructure to improve mission outcomes.
“ODC’s platform can transform the network from a communication pipe into a distributed compute grid, which is the essential AI processing engine for the world’s digital and physical infrastructure,” said Shaygan Kheradpir, chairman of ODC.
“With the support of Booz Allen and other industry-leading partners, we are now focused on ramping our engagements and transforming today’s cell sites into high-performance compute hubs capable of orchestrating everything from autonomous agentic AI and real-time generative inference to the physical AI applications that secure and define national infrastructure resilience,” added Kheradpir.
Booz Allen said initial efforts will focus on defense applications, with plans to expand to enterprise environments, allied international markets and mobile network operators.
How Does the ODC Investment Align With Booz Allen’s Communications Tech Efforts?
The investment builds on Booz Allen’s work in NextG technologies, including its participation in AI-WIN. Through this initiative, Booz Allen collaborates with ODC, NVIDIA and other partners to develop and deploy AI-native wireless capabilities for 6G.
Booz Allen’s work in NextG communications also includes a $99 million U.S. Navy contract to design, deploy and sustain wireless networks for Military Sealift Command ships, integrating 5G, Wi-Fi and low Earth orbit satellite technologies to support operational connectivity and edge applications.
