An Ericsson-led O-RAN Alliance project, which delivered new fronthaul specs last year, promised to make cloud infrastructure based on standard processors, fully RAN-capable for the first time. Despite that breakthrough, which should reach commercial equipment in late 2024, Ericsson is still arguing that proprietary silicon will always outperform general purpose processors (GPP) in the RAN – reigniting a key debate whose outcome will shape the platforms, and pace of adoption, of Open RAN in the coming years. Ericsson, or different parties within Ericsson, seems to be on both sides of the debate, and it is far from an academic one for the Open RAN industry. Three major barriers have slowed the adoption of virtualized RAN, especially Open RAN. These are…