Nokia Shares Surge to €13.45 as AI Networking Lab and Analyst Upgrades Reshape the Narrative

Nokia shares jumped over 10% to €13.45, fueled by 49% AI revenue growth, a new Sunnyvale lab, and multiple analyst upgrades as the company transforms into an AI-infrastructure contender.

Nokia’s transformation from a telecom equipment stalwart into an AI-infrastructure contender accelerated sharply last week, sending the stock to consecutive 52-week highs. Shares jumped more than 9% on Thursday, May 21, to €13.29 after the Finnish group opened its AI Network Innovation Lab in Sunnyvale, California, and then extended gains to €13.45 by Friday’s close — a daily advance of over 10%. The rally has more than doubled the stock since January and, at its peak, brought it close to triple that level.

The fresh highs are rooted in hard numbers from the first quarter, which had already sparked a re-rating. Nokia reported revenue of €4.5 billion, up 4% year-on-year, while comparable earnings per share improved from €0.03 to €0.05. More telling was the mix: revenue from AI and cloud clients surged 49% and now accounts for 8% of total turnover, a share that is likely to expand as the company leans into optical networking — a margin-rich segment that is increasingly critical for high-performance AI clusters.

For the full year, management has guided for comparable operating profit of between €2.0 billion and €2.5 billion, and is planning capital investments of €900 million to €1 billion in production and real estate. Within the Network Infrastructure division, Nokia expects revenue growth of 12% to 14%, with combined IP and optical sales climbing 18% to 20%.

The Sunnyvale laboratory is the operational expression of that strategy. Designed to validate and co-develop switching platforms, AI-native network protocols, and multi-vendor architectures for data-center workloads, the lab brings together partners including AMD, Lenovo, Supermicro, Keysight, VIAVI and Weka. The roster signals an ecosystem play rather than a single-vendor pitch — precisely the sort of interoperability that hyperscalers demand when building out training and inference infrastructure.

Wall Street and European analysts have rapidly adjusted their models. CFRA upgraded Nokia to Buy and more than doubled its price target to $16, arguing the company should be valued as an optical-networking and AI-infrastructure player rather than a legacy telecom supplier. Argus also issued a Buy with a $15 target. JPMorgan lifted its target to €12 from €6.90, maintaining Overweight, while Morgan Stanley raised to €11 and Deutsche Bank switched to Buy at €8.50. The consensus is that Nokia’s revenue mix is improving faster than the market had anticipated.

At the same time, Nokia is pruning peripheral operations. The fixed wireless access customer-premises equipment business is being sold to Inseego in exchange for roughly an 11% equity stake in Inseego, along with warrants and a cash component. The deal, expected to close in the fourth quarter, is financially immaterial but fits a broader portfolio-simplification program launched last November. On the leadership front, Emma Falck, a former Siemens executive, will take over the newly created Mobile Infrastructure division in September, replacing Tommi Uitto, who left after a strategic shift. CEO Justin Hotard had been running the unit on an interim basis.

Technically, the stock is trading around 47% above its 50-day moving average, yet the relative strength index stands at a modest 37 — an unusual combination that suggests strong upward momentum without overheating. The next catalyst is the second-quarter earnings report, due in July (the 23rd, according to Nokia’s calendar), where the company has flagged sequential revenue growth of 5% to 9% versus Q1. Investors will be watching closely for signs that the AI-network offensive is translating into order momentum and margin expansion in the IP and optical segments.