Nokia’s AI Pivot Sparks a Stunning 140% Stock Rally
Nokia’s shift toward AI-ready network infrastructure is boosting growth as hyperscalers and telecom operators expand AI data centres.
AI just gave Nokia a second chance. For years, Nokia was largely viewed as a mature telecom equipment company fighting for relevance in a highly competitive networking market.
Now, artificial intelligence has dramatically changed that narrative. Nokia’s aggressive pivot toward AI-ready network infrastructure has become one of the company’s biggest growth drivers, helping fuel a reported 140% year-to-date rise in its share price as of 27 May 2026.
Investors are increasingly betting that the AI boom will not only benefit chipmakers and cloud companies, but also the firms building the networks that keep AI systems running.
AI is creating a massive infrastructure upgrade cycle
The rise of generative AI is fundamentally changing how internet traffic moves around the world. Training large AI models and operating real-time inference systems requires enormous amounts of data to travel between servers, accelerators, storage systems, and cloud infrastructure.
These workloads generate huge volumes of what the industry calls “east-west traffic”, meaning data moving rapidly between machines inside and across data centres. That is putting pressure on existing fibre networks, routers, and optical transport systems.
Companies capable of improving network throughput while reducing energy consumption are now positioned to benefit from a multi-year infrastructure spending cycle tied directly to AI growth. Nokia wants to become one of those companies.
What is driving Nokia’s AI momentum
Through April and May 2026, Nokia exceeded first-quarter expectations and raised growth assumptions for business segments connected to AI and cloud infrastructure demand. According to company disclosures, AI and cloud-related net sales grew 49% year-on-year during Q1 2026 and contributed roughly 8% of overall group revenue.
Nokia also reportedly secured nearly €1 billion worth of AI-linked orders during the quarter. Much of that demand is coming from hyperscalers and telecom operators expanding AI data centre capacity.
The company’s Network Infrastructure division, which includes optical networking and IP routing systems, is benefiting heavily from demand for faster data centre interconnects and high-capacity fibre systems.
Nokia has now reportedly raised its 2026 growth outlook for Network Infrastructure to between 12% and 14%.
Partnerships are becoming central to the strategy
Nokia’s AI pivot is not happening in isolation. The company has expanded collaborations with firms, including NVIDIA, while also working with telecom operators such as Orange and Telia on AI-RAN initiatives.
AI-RAN refers to the use of artificial intelligence and accelerator hardware to manage radio access networks more efficiently.
Traditionally, many base-station functions relied on fixed-purpose hardware. AI-RAN shifts some of that processing onto more flexible computing accelerators capable of dynamically adjusting network capacity, energy usage, and signal optimisation in real time.
Nokia says around 10 customers have publicly committed to AI-RAN work, with larger-scale trials expected later in 2026.
What comes next
The next few quarters will likely determine whether Nokia can sustain the momentum. Investors will closely watch order conversion rates, hyperscaler spending trends, delivery timelines, and the success of upcoming AI-RAN trials.
For now, Nokia’s transformation highlights a broader reality of the AI economy: the winners may not only be the companies building AI models, but also those building the networks powerful enough to support them.