Finnish telecommunications equipment giant Nokia announced on Monday it would replace chief executive Pekka Lundmark with Justin Hotard, an American executive overseeing artificial intelligence at US chip maker Intel.
Lundmark, who has served as Nokia’s CEO since 2020, will leave his position on March 31 and Hotard will take over the next day, the company said in a statement.
The move comes as Nokia reported last month a surge in profit for 2024 after years of slumping demand for its 5G equipment from mobile network operators.
“I want to move on from executive roles to work in a different capacity, such as a board professional”, said Lundmark, 61, who has led various listed companies over the past two decades.
The leadership change signals that Nokia wants to ride the global AI growth wave.
Hotard, born in 1974, currently serves as executive vice president at Intel as well as general manager of its AI and data centre group.
“I am excited to get started and look forward to continuing Nokia’s transformation journey to maximize its potential for growth and value creation,” Hotard said.
“Networks are the backbone that power society and businesses, and enable generational technology shifts like the one we are currently experiencing in AI,” he said.
Hotard has previously held leadership roles at large technology companies for more than 25 years, including Hewlett Packard, Nokia said.
Nokia chairwoman Sari Baldauf said Hotard holds “a strong track record of accelerating growth in technology companies along with vast expertise in AI and data centre markets, which are critical areas for Nokia’s future growth”.
Baldauf cited Hotard’s knowledge of the US market as a key factor behind the appointment.
“The US is an important market for us,” she said at a press conference.
