Nokia is trying to write a new identity for itself, and the market is starting to notice. The company, once known mainly for mobile phones, is now pushing hard into AI-native networking, with recent gains in AI and cloud demand giving that shift real momentum.
The push has been backed by major money and new contracts. Nvidia invested $1 billion into Nokia in October as part of a collaboration to co-develop AI-RAN solutions, while Nokia said its AI and cloud-related net sales surged 49% year over year in the first quarter of 2026 and generated 1 billion euros in new orders. Those figures helped explain why the company raised its forecast for AI and cloud growth from 16% to a 27% compound annual growth rate through 2028.
That forecast is a sharper signal than a single quarter’s results. Nokia is now positioning its 5G-Advanced and 6G software stacks on Nvidia hardware, tying its future more closely to the infrastructure that powers AI systems rather than the consumer devices that once made its name. The company’s message is clear: it is no longer selling nostalgia. It is selling the backbone for AI networks.
The shift is not happening in a vacuum. Hyperscalers are spending heavily on AI infrastructure, and governments are demanding newer defense communications protocols, two trends that are pulling Nokia in different but related directions. In March, the company joined a group with Anduril Industries and European partner COBBS to develop a counter-unmanned aerial system capability for the Belgian military, extending its network business into defense.
That effort produced the 5G Comms Sentry Tower, which combines Nokia’s private 5G hardware and tactical communications with Anduril’s modular Sentry platform. The system was built to deliver deployable, secure cellular connectivity that can move real-time data from autonomous sensors, drones and AI decision engines. It is a practical example of where Nokia is trying to grow: not in consumer handsets, but in networks that have to work when the stakes are high.
The tension for Nokia stock is that the story is no longer about whether the company can survive after phones. It is about whether it can keep converting a strategic pivot into orders, revenue and durable growth fast enough to justify the higher expectations now attached to it. For now, the numbers suggest the market is seeing something more than a rebrand.
