The OMX Helsinki index touched 14,222 points on 23 May 2026 — a 25-year high and the first time it has crossed 14,000 since December 2000. The engine behind that milestone was Nokia, whose shares closed in Helsinki at €13.30, the highest since 2010. The stock has nearly tripled over the past twelve months and gained 139% since the start of the year, with a single-day jump of 9% on Friday alone propelling it to a new 52-week high. More than €240 million worth of Nokia shares changed hands in that session.
The immediate catalyst was the opening of Nokia’s AI Networking Innovation Lab in Sunnyvale, California. The facility, developed in partnership with AMD, Keysight, Lenovo, and Supermicro, is designed to test and validate network architectures for large-scale AI training environments. At the same time, Nokia deepened its ties with Nvidia, integrating Nvidia-powered products into its mobile network portfolio. Nvidia has committed to investing $1 billion in Nokia, signalling that the chipmaker views the Finnish company as a central partner for AI-native 5G and 6G infrastructure.
Those strategic moves are already showing up in the numbers. Nokia’s first-quarter 2026 revenue came in at €4.5 billion, up 4% year-on-year. AI and cloud revenues surged 49%, and the company booked roughly €1 billion in new AI-related orders in a single quarter. The operating margin improved to 6.2%, while free cash flow reached €0.6 billion. The optical networks division grew 20% from the prior year, and Nokia now expects its network infrastructure segment to expand by 12% to 14% for the full year. Combined, optical and IP networks are forecast to grow 18% to 20%, with full-year operating profit landing between €2.0 billion and €2.5 billion.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying Nokia?
Analysts responded in force. Morgan Stanley raised its price target on the Helsinki-listed shares from €11 to €14, reaffirming the stock as a top pick. For the US-listed ADRs, the target was increased to $16.50. The bank cited Nokia’s unique positioning in AI data-centre networking as the primary rationale. CFRA, Argus, JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank, Arete, and Nordea followed suit, either lifting their targets or upgrading their ratings.
On the operational front, Nokia is building 17 AI-capable edge data centres exclusively for Telefónica in Spain; twelve are already live, equipped with the company’s 7220-IXR switches and 7750-SR gateways. That deal complements a broader European push that has been largely overlooked amid the AI frenzy. With net liquidity of €3.8 billion, Nokia has ample financial firepower to sustain the momentum.
The technical picture suggests the rally is getting stretched. The relative strength index sits at approximately 37 — a reading that ordinarily signals oversold conditions rather than overbought, but the context here is exceptional: the stock trades more than 100% above its 200-day moving average. At €13.30, Nokia already sits close to Morgan Stanley’s €14 target, leaving little room for disappointment. The next checkpoints are second-quarter order inflows, sustained growth in optical networks, and the half-year report due in July.
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