Helsinki, May 22, 2026, 17:04 EEST
- Nokia shares in Helsinki jumped 8.2% to 13.09 euros late Friday, ahead of the OMX Helsinki 25 index, which rose 0.9%.
- Nokia opened a Sunnyvale AI networking lab, working with AMD, Keysight, Lenovo, and Supermicro. The move brought those partners together.
- The main story for the stock is still the reset after April earnings. Nokia reported a 49% jump in sales to AI and cloud customers.
Nokia Oyj shares climbed late Friday in Helsinki, beating gains in the Finnish blue-chip index. Investors kept adding to positions in the network equipment maker with hopes pinned on the company’s push into artificial intelligence infrastructure.
The share changed hands at 13.09 euros, climbing 8.18% at 17:00 local time. The OMX Helsinki 25 added 0.92% to 6,466.55. Trading was still open on Nasdaq Helsinki, with the regular session running from 10:00 to 18:30 local time.
Nokia has opened an AI Networking Innovation Lab in Sunnyvale, California, on Thursday to focus on data-center networks used in AI training and inference. The lab brings in partners including AMD, Keysight, Lenovo, Nscale, Supermicro, Weka and Everpure. Nokia’s Rudy Hoebeke called it a “major milestone.” AMD’s Travis Karr said the group was taking an “open, standards-driven approach.” GlobeNewswire
The theme that’s been around since April got a new look from the market: Nokia isn’t just seen as a 5G telecom gear play. Investors are also asking if its optical networks, hardware that pushes big data over fibre, could get a boost as AI data centres expand.
Nokia kicked things off with its first-quarter report. Comparable operating profit, its adjusted profit metric, climbed 54% to 281 million euros, ahead of analysts’ 250 million euro forecast from Infront. AI and cloud customer sales jumped 49%, with the company logging 1 billion euros in orders from those clients.
Nokia’s CEO Justin Hotard said the company was “tracking somewhat above” the mid-point of its 2026 comparable operating profit forecast of 2.0 billion to 2.5 billion euros. That news sent shares to their highest since 2010 back in April. On Friday, the stock moved close to that level again.
Nokia CEO Hotard told Reuters last month Europe lacks the infrastructure for AI data centres. “You need connectivity. You need data centre capacity,” he said. Hyperscalers are putting money into that capacity. Nokia is looking to win more of the switching and pipes business that comes with it. Reuters
Peer results matter, too. Nokia’s Nordic rival Ericsson had its own issues in the first quarter. Ericsson’s core profit came in below forecasts, Reuters said in April, blaming higher chip costs linked to AI and weaker North American sales.
Nokia’s ADRs were up again in New York, trading at $15.08, up 6.31% at 9:41 a.m. EDT. The U.S.-traded shares rose 4.11% Thursday after five sessions of losses.
The run-up means there’s not much margin for error. Nokia’s own risk list includes tough competition, customer spending changes, semiconductor and other component costs, supply issues, currency moves, tariffs, interest rates and geopolitical problems that could hit its forecasts.
Delivery is up next. Nokia told investors it expects second-quarter net sales up 5% to 9% from the first quarter, and said second-quarter operating profit should be 12% to 16% of the full-year total. The company will post its second-quarter and first-half numbers on July 23.
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