BARCELONA, SPAIN – FEBRUARY 26: A logo sits illuminated at the Nokia booth in the Mobile World Congress 2024 on February 26, 2024 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Xavi Torrent/Getty Images)
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Nokia announced on Tuesday that Nvidia will purchase $1 billion in new Nokia shares, the latest equity stake in a strategic partner for the AI chip giant.
Nokia shares soared 20% higher following the news.
Nokia will issue over 166 million new shares. Nokia said that it would use the proceeds to fund its plans for AI and other general corporate purposes.
The two companies also struck a strategic partnership to work together to develop next-generation 6G cellular technology. Nokia said that it would adapt its 5G and 6G software to run on Nvidia’s chips, and will collaborate on networking technology for AI.
Nokia said Nvidia would consider incorporating its technology into its future AI infrastructure plans.
Nokia, a Finnish company, is best known for its early cell phones, but in recent years, it has primarily been a supplier of 5G cellular equipment to telecom providers.
The announcement comes as Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang prepares to address an audience of policymakers and government leaders in Washington DC to keynote the company’s developer conference. Nokia and Nvidia are expected to discuss some of their collaborations and plans at the conference.
Nvidia has taken a number of equity stakes in strategic partners in recent months as the company has found itself at the center of the AI world. In September, it committed a $5 billion investment to one-time rival Intel, and said it would invest $100 billion in OpenAI. It also committed $500 million in self-driving car startup Wayve and a $667 million investment in to U.K. cloud provider Nscale.
