HELSINKI, July 9, 2026, 21:01 EEST
Nokia Oyj HEL:NOKIA jumped 9.64% to finish at 11.20 euros in Helsinki on Thursday. The move added about 5.6 billion euros in market cap in one session as investors bought in on new signs of the company’s AI-networking strategy. According to Google Finance, Nokia’s market value stood at 64.16 billion euros at 18:29 local time, with shares moving between 10.50 and 11.24 euros for the day.
Timing counts here. Thursday ran as a standard trading day in Helsinki, not on a holiday session. Nasdaq’s listed hours for Helsinki main-market stocks are 10:00 to 18:30 local, and July 9 doesn’t show up in its 2026 holiday schedule. Nokia is also coming up on Q2 and half-year results, set for July 23.
The move topped the local market, fitting into a wider push for network equipment. The OMX Helsinki 25, which tracks the 25 most-traded stocks in Helsinki, added 1.84%. Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (STO:ERIC-B) climbed 6.70% in Stockholm, while Ciena Corp NYSE:CIEN rose 6.09% in New York in early afternoon deals. Price-to-earnings, or P/E, measures share price against yearly earnings per share, showing what investors pay for current profit.
| Thursday snapshot | Move | Price / level | P/E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nokia | up 9.64% | €11.20 | 79.50 |
| OMX Helsinki 25 | added 1.84% | 6,166.96 | n/a |
| Ericsson B | climbed 6.70% | SEK 112.35 | 14.92 |
| Ciena | rose 6.09% | $467.82 | 155.72 |
Nokia Defense and NestAI said they’re working together on AI-backed command-and-control, mission planning and early threat detection using deployable 5G and sensing systems. This wasn’t a major new order. Mikko Hautala, Nokia’s top geopolitical and government relations exec and chairman of Nokia Defense, said AI “only works in the field when it has secure, resilient connectivity behind it.” NestAI founder and executive chairman Peter Sarlin said the effort is aimed at “real conditions European forces face.” GlobeNewswire
Investors saw this as Nokia finding another use for its AI connectivity pitch, not just a standard telecom press release. The defence announcement didn’t give a contract value, so the share move seems tied less to direct revenue news and more to hopes on secure networks, optical links and data-centre demand. It might seem minor. But the market didn’t act like it was minor.
Nokia moved 43,552,813 treasury shares after the close, transferring stock the company held to people in its equity incentive plans. Now it holds 88,583,624 shares in treasury. With 5.74 billion shares outstanding, the move is about 0.76% of total shares. It’s a large number, but much smaller than the increase in market cap seen during the day.
| Share item | Figure | Market read |
|---|---|---|
| Treasury shares moved | 43.55 million | Roughly 0.76% of total shares |
| Own shares left on hand | 88.58 million | Now about 1.54% of shares left |
| Estimated gain Thursday | €5.6 billion | Price jump overshadowed share-plan details |
Nokia said in April that first-quarter AI and cloud sales jumped 49%, making up 8% of total sales. Orders from AI and cloud customers came in at 1 billion euros. Optical Networks, which handles data over fibre, grew 20%. CEO Justin Hotard said demand had “accelerated significantly.” Nokia raised its 2026 growth target for Network Infrastructure to 12%-14%, and for Optical and IP Networks together to 18%-20%. Nokia Corporation | Nokia
Reuters said comparable operating profit climbed 54% to 281 million euros, beating the average analyst estimate. The newswire also pointed to higher demand from hyperscalers building out data centers, boosting Nokia’s sales after the Infinera buy. That shift is part of why the stock now trades more like an AI infrastructure play than a traditional radio-access vendor.
Nvidia Corp NASDAQ:NVDA keeps a low profile. The Wall Street Journal said this week that Nvidia’s $1 billion deal for a 2.9% stake in Nokia and Hotard’s focus on data centers have shifted Nokia’s image toward being an AI supplier, though over half its revenue is still tied to old-line mobile infrastructure.
The risk is hard to miss. Nokia trades at close to 80 times earnings, giving it little room if AI wins take longer to turn into profit. Management has already pointed to longer supply chain lead times. If supply on the optical side slips, if hyperscaler spending slows, or if defence news keeps missing on contract value, the €5.6 billion pop on Thursday could be hard to hang on to before July 23 results.
Related articles: HEL:NOKIA
