Through the hub, part of a joint venture between the companies to speed up Telstra’s data and AI roadmap and improve its customer experience, Telstra will work with Accenture and ecosystem partners including Amazon Web Services, Databricks and Microsoft, to build and test AI-based services.

The companies said the hub, based in Mountain View, California, would accelerate Telstra’s foundational AI architecture, which will be used to build AI use cases and access business intelligence. 

Initial priorities for the seven-year joint venture will include building ‘agentic’ approaches for Telstra and learning from academia, including the Berkeley Sky Labs, to bring research on data, AI and network innovation.

The Silicon Valley base will connect with teams in Sydney, Melbourne and Bangalore as part of Accenture Connected Innovation Centers.

Telstra group executive for product and technology Kim Krogh Andersen said: “Bringing together leading research and engineering talent to innovate and build solutions for our customers and people is exactly what this joint venture is about.”

Karthik Narain, group chief executive – technology and CTO, Accenture, added: “This hub represents a nexus of breakthrough innovations for our teams in Silicon Valley, Australia and India, enabling co-development and learning across the ecosystem.”