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Nokia announced on February 10, 2025 that Justin Hotard would succeed Pekka Lundmark as president and chief executive officer. Hotard took office on April 1, 2025, so this is not a new August 2026 appointment: he is Nokia’s incumbent CEO. His official Intel role was executive vice president and general manager of the Data Center & AI Group, rather than a company-wide “head of AI.”
The choice places an infrastructure executive at the helm of a telecom-equipment company seeking to benefit from AI-driven growth in data-center connections, optical networks, cloud infrastructure and AI-native wireless networks.
What Nokia announced
Nokia’s board appointed Hotard as Lundmark’s successor in the February 10, 2025 leadership announcement. Lundmark remained CEO through March 31, 2025, after leading Nokia since 2020; Hotard became CEO the following day. Nokia described Lundmark’s departure as a planned transition to the next phase of his career, not a sudden dismissal.
The original announcement is available from Nokia.
Who Justin Hotard is
Hotard brings more than 25 years in technology-industry leadership, with experience centered on infrastructure businesses, enterprise customers and operating execution.
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Intel: Data Center & AI Group
From 2024 until joining Nokia in 2025, Hotard was Intel’s executive vice president and general manager of the Data Center & AI Group. That organization covered data-center and AI products and markets. Calling him Intel’s “former head of AI” is understandable shorthand, but it can imply a research or company-wide role he did not hold.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Hotard spent 2015–2024 at Hewlett Packard Enterprise. His final HPE position was executive vice president and general manager of High-Performance Computing, AI & Labs. Earlier roles included leadership positions at HPE, NCR Corporation and Symbol Technologies-related businesses.
Nokia’s official biography lists his career and current position at nokia.com. The record supports describing him as an infrastructure and commercial executive, not as a deep-learning scientist or the architect of Intel’s entire AI strategy.
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Why an AI and data-center executive fits Nokia
Nokia does not make foundation models like OpenAI, Google or Anthropic. Its opportunity is to provide the networks that carry, connect and manage AI workloads.
- Optical transport: high-capacity links between data centers, cloud regions and network providers.
- IP networking and routing: the systems that move rapidly growing data-center and internet traffic.
- Fixed and mobile infrastructure: connectivity for consumers, businesses and industrial systems.
- Cloud and data-center networking: equipment and software connecting computing capacity to users and applications.
- AI-enabled operations: automation, monitoring and optimization that can make networks more efficient.
- AI-native networks and 6G: future architectures designed for distributed computing, sensing and machine-driven traffic.
Hotard’s relevance is therefore practical: he has operated and sold infrastructure used by high-performance-computing and AI customers. That experience may help Nokia connect telecom strategy with cloud providers, data-center operators and enterprise buyers. It does not mean Nokia is becoming an AI-model company.
The business challenge he inherited
Nokia remained primarily a telecommunications and network-infrastructure company in a mature, highly competitive market. The central challenge was turning rising AI-related traffic into profitable demand for Nokia’s products while maintaining near-term discipline.
Infinera and optical networking
Nokia completed its approximately €2.5 billion acquisition of optical-networking company Infinera in 2025. The deal expanded Nokia’s optical capabilities and North American exposure, giving its AI-infrastructure thesis a concrete networking component. Nokia’s filings connect optical growth and data-center opportunities with its future development, but they do not establish that Hotard caused the transaction or that it was designed specifically around his appointment.
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Telecom economics
Carrier capital spending is cyclical, sales cycles are long and Nokia competes with major global suppliers in wireless, routing, optical and enterprise infrastructure. AI demand can increase network traffic without immediately increasing Nokia’s orders or margins. A U.S. technology background may help with data-center relationships, but it does not by itself solve mobile-network competitiveness or shareholder-return pressure.
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Nokia’s strategy after the appointment
At its November 19, 2025 Capital Markets Day, Nokia presented a strategy to capture value from what it called the “AI supercycle.” Its stated priorities were:
- Accelerate growth in AI and cloud.
- Lead the next era of mobile connectivity through AI-native networks and 6G.
- Grow through customer and partner co-innovation.
- Direct capital toward areas where Nokia can differentiate.
- Unlock sustainable returns.
In practical terms, “AI-native networking” means infrastructure built for fast-growing AI traffic, more automated network planning and operations, links among data centers, cloud platforms, mobile users and industrial systems, and potentially distributed-compute architectures for 6G. These are strategic priorities, not proof that a financial turnaround has already occurred.
The operating-model reset
From January 1, 2026, Nokia simplified its organization into two primary operating segments:
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| Segment | Role in the strategy |
|---|---|
| Network Infrastructure | Connectivity businesses such as optical networks, IP networks, fixed networks and related infrastructure. |
| Mobile Infrastructure | Mobile-network businesses supporting current wireless systems and the transition toward AI-native networks and 6G. |
Nokia said the structure was intended to simplify the operating model, speed decisions and improve execution. The change is evidence of a broader portfolio and execution reset following the leadership transition, not part of the February 2025 appointment announcement itself.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What Nokia says it wants to achieve
At the 2025 Capital Markets Day, Nokia set a target of €2.7 billion to €3.2 billion in annual comparable operating profit by 2028. This is management’s forward-looking objective, not a result already achieved. It depends on execution, demand, competition, currency, supply-chain conditions and portfolio decisions. Nokia’s strategy announcement is available at Nokia’s newsroom.
Opportunity versus risk
| Potential upside | Key risk |
|---|---|
| Hotard’s experience may improve engagement with cloud, data-center and enterprise customers. | AI-related demand may benefit competing infrastructure vendors more than Nokia. |
| Infinera strengthens Nokia’s optical-networking position, where data-center interconnection is important. | Integrating Infinera and reorganizing the company could delay benefits or add costs. |
| AI-native networking and 6G could create new software and infrastructure markets. | 6G opportunities remain longer term, while carriers still control near-term spending. |
| Network automation may improve efficiency and customer value. | AI language can remain marketing rhetoric unless tied to products, deployments and financial metrics. |
What investors should watch
- Growth in Nokia’s AI- and cloud-related sales.
- Optical-networking demand and the commercial integration of Infinera.
- Data-center customer wins and partner announcements.
- Performance of the Network Infrastructure segment.
- Profitability and order trends in Mobile Infrastructure.
- Evidence that AI-native-network products are becoming commercial businesses rather than future-facing concepts.
- Progress toward the 2028 comparable operating-profit target.
Nokia’s 2025 annual-report filing provides the later strategic and organizational context: SEC-hosted Nokia filing.
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Hotard’s appointment represents Nokia’s attempt to become a stronger infrastructure beneficiary of AI—not a move into consumer AI or foundation-model development. The thesis will be tested by optical and data-center demand, mobile-network execution, Infinera integration and measurable progress toward Nokia’s financial targets.
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