Nvidia Announces $1 Billion Equity Investment in Nokia, Forging Strategic Partnership
Nvidia has announced a $1 billion equity investment in Nokia, signifying a significant strategic partnership aimed at accelerating innovation in the telecommunications sector. The investment, executed at a subscription price of $6.01 per share, will result in the issuance of 166,389,351 new shares to Nvidia, granting the company a 2.90% ownership stake in Nokia. The closing of this transaction is subject to customary conditions.
Nokia intends to allocate the proceeds from this equity issuance to expedite its strategic initiatives. These include advancements in “trusted connectivity” to support the evolving landscape of AI applications, as well as general corporate purposes. Specifically, Nokia plans to accelerate the development of its 5G and 6G RAN (Radio Access Network) software, optimizing its functionality on Nvidia’s architecture. Furthermore, Nokia will augment its presence in the AI and Cloud market by focusing on data center-aligned networking solutions.
Beyond the equity investment, Nokia and Nvidia have established a collaborative framework for the development of AI-driven networking solutions. This collaboration will encompass the exploration of integrating Nokia’s data center switching and optical technologies within Nvidia’s future AI infrastructure architecture.
Concurrent with this partnership, T-Mobile U.S. will engage in collaborative efforts with Nvidia and Nokia to drive and test AI-RAN technologies as a component of the 6G innovation and development process. These trials, slated to commence next year, will focus on field validation to assess performance enhancements and efficiency gains for customers.
Justin Hotard, President and CEO of Nokia, emphasized the transformative potential of this collaboration, stating that the next leap in telecom involves a fundamental redesign of the network to facilitate AI-powered connectivity. He added that the partnership with Nvidia will accelerate AI-RAN innovation.
Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of Nvidia, highlighted the critical role of telecommunications as a national infrastructure and the transformative impact of AI-RAN. He stated that the collaboration with Nokia and the U.S. telecom ecosystem would equip operators with the capabilities to construct intelligent, adaptive networks, defining the next generation of global connectivity.
Sources: Source 1, Source 2
