Nvidia to invest €1B in Nokia, 2.9% stake in AI telecom partnership

Nvidia announced on Tuesday that it will make a 1 billion euro equity investment in Finnish telecommunications equipment maker Nokia and enter a strategic partnership to accelerate the integration of artificial intelligence into mobile networks and data center infrastructure. The deal, disclosed ahead of Nvidia’s developer conference in Washington, D.C., gives the U.S. chipmaker roughly a 2.9 percent stake in Nokia and was accompanied by a sharp rise in Nokia’s share price in Helsinki trading.

Under the agreement, Nokia’s board approved a directed issuance of 166,389,351 new shares to Nvidia at a subscription price of 6.01 euros per share. Nokia said the net proceeds will be used to speed development of software and systems for AI-driven connectivity, strengthen its data center networking business, and for general corporate purposes. The companies expect the new shares to be registered and listed in November.

The partnership will see Nokia adapt its 5G and future 6G radio access network software to run on Nvidia’s chip architectures and jointly develop AI networking solutions. Nvidia also said it will evaluate integrating Nokia’s data center switching and optical networking...