Nokia CEO Pekka Lundmark to step down March 31; Intel EVP Justin Hotard takes over April 1
Nokia announced today that CEO Pekka Lundmark will step down from the top spot at the end of March. Intel Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Data Center and Artificial Intelligence business will take over leadership of the Finnish company beginning April 1. Given Nokia’s recent emphasis on growth opportunities in data center networking and automation, and in the context of Intel’s struggle to weave a convincing AI narrative, the planned transition certainly passes a quick sense check.
Lundmark said in a statement that Hotard “has a strong track record of accelerating growth in technology companies along with vast expertise in AI and data center markets, which are critical areas for Nokia’s future growth.”
In its four quarter earnings call last month, Lundmark provided a good deal of commentary that speaks to how Nokia sees itself playing in the AI infrastructure space, including the acquisition of Infinera to “strengthen our position in optical networking and accelerate our growth opportunities in the data center market.”
He continued: “Nokia’s IP networks products are well known in the [communications service provider] market for their quality, robustness, and innovation. We will look to bring this strong and proven reputation for quality to the data center market and combine it with new market-leading automation capabilities from our event-driven automation solutions and our SR Linux operating system…We are doubling down on our investment in this technology in order to be able to address the hyperscalers, telco cloud and enterprise customer segments.”
In the context of the need for distributed AI infrastructure, Lundmark sketched out “the biggest strategic question for telcos going forward…How they are going to position in terms of other workloads than their traditional own workloads. And here the sweet spot, which also will be in a way a battleground between telcos and hyperscalers and enterprises own cloud is going to be the edge compute market…And the good thing for Nokia, obviously is that we are working with telcos, we are working with hyperscalers and we are increasingly working also direct with enterprise customers to go after that opportunity.”
In a LinkedIn post, Hotard said he’s “thrilled” about his appointment. “From mobile phones, to networks, to now leading the advanced connectivity that enables AI and cloud, Nokia has a unique heritage of innovation and reinvention. I am excited to lead Nokia into its next chapter of innovation, growth and value creation.”
An Intel spokesperson provided RCR Wireless News with the following statement: “We have a strong DCAI team that will continue to advance our priorities in service to our customers. Karin Eibschitz Segal has been appointed interim head of the DCAI business and is an accomplished executive with nearly two decades of Intel leadership experience spanning products, systems and infrastructure roles. We are grateful for Justin Hotard’s contributions and wish him the best in his new role.”
