Nokia: Intel's head of data centers and AI becomes new CEO

The Finnish technology group Nokia has announced a change in its top management. The current President and CEO, Pekka Lundmark, has informed the Board of Directors that he will be stepping down at the end of March. The new CEO will be Justin Hotard, an expert in data centers and artificial intelligence (AI). This was announced by Nokia in a press release on Monday. Hotard will take up his new position on April 1, 2025.

The future Nokia CEO currently heads the data center and artificial intelligence divisions at US semiconductor company Intel. Previously, Hotard held various leadership positions at major technology companies, including Hewlett Packard and NCR Corporation. “He has a strong track record of accelerating the growth of technology companies and has deep expertise in AI and data centers, which are critical to Nokia's future growth,” said Sari Baldauf, Chair of Nokia's Board of Directors.

Refocusing on other business areas

With Hotard's appointment, Nokia is “underscoring its ambitions to expand into new growth areas”, writes the US daily Wall Street Journal. The Finnish company has signaled that it wants to diversify and look for new growth markets outside the telecommunications market. In its traditional core business of mobile networks, Nokia is facing tough competition and fluctuating demand.

Last year, Nokia bought the US company Infinera, a manufacturer of optical semiconductors and network equipment, for 2.3 billion US dollars. The deal is intended to improve Nokia's access to data centers and thus to the AI business, and at the same time to the important US market. According to the Wall Street Journal, Nokia generates just over a quarter of its total sales in North America and has recently recorded growth there. In particular, the network infrastructure business, which supplies products for networking data centers, has grown. Nokia has received orders from Microsoft, among others.

Two fundamental conditions fulfilled

The realignment of the Group was initiated by the previous CEO, Lundmark, who had been at the helm of Nokia since 2020. According to Board Chairwoman Baldauf, the plans for the change in leadership were initiated when Lundmark informed the Board that he would consider stepping down from the management board once the company's realignment was further advanced and the right successor had been found. “Now both conditions have been met, and he has decided to step down,” says Baldauf.

Hotard sees his new employer as “a global leader in the field of connectivity” in a good starting position. “Networks are the backbone of society and companies and enable a technological generation change, as we are currently experiencing in the field of artificial intelligence,” says Hotard. He is looking forward to the launch “and to continuing Nokia's transformation process to maximize the potential for growth and value creation.”

(akn)