Moody's Lifts Nokia to Investment Grade While AI Traffic Forecast Points to 2035

Nokia's credit profile improved this week after Moody's Ratings raised the company's long-term issuer rating and its rating on senior unsecured debt from Ba1 to Baa3. The outlook was left positive. As justification, the agency cited demand for AI and cloud infrastructure.

The upgrade landed as a supportive company-specific development, though media coverage tied Nokia's share-price swings during the week more closely to sector volatility than to the improved credit assessment. On 5 November, the stock was caught up in a broad sell-off of technology and AI shares, with investors' concerns about AI-related equities and exposure to the data-centre segment weighing on the market. No new Nokia-specific announcement triggered that move. The following day, the shares rose 1.3% to close at EUR 7.43.

Equity Programme Transfer Completed

Separately, Nokia reported the completed transfer of treasury shares under its share-based compensation programmes. According to company statements, programme participants received roughly 847,000 shares without consideration. Following the transfer, Nokia still held around 80.3 million of its own shares.

Hotwire Taps Nokia for AI-Ready Network in North Carolina

On the order front, Hotwire Communications selected Nokia to build a next-generation IP network in North Carolina. The architecture is intended to prepare Hotwire's network for the requirements of AI networking structures, and commissioning is expected in early 2027. The project gives Nokia a concrete build-out win, even though commercial operation remains some way off.

Longer-range expectations come from Nokia's global network traffic report, published just over a week ago. In it, the company forecasts that artificial intelligence will account for 44% of worldwide network traffic by 2035, with total monthly data traffic reaching almost 3,789 exabytes in the same year. Both figures are corporate projections for global data traffic — not measured traffic volumes, and not a revenue forecast for Nokia itself.