Nokia isn't the phone brand anymore. It's a networking company, and AI data centers are turning into one of its fastest-growing customer groups. Here's what it reported on Oct 22, 2026. All figures are from Nokia's Q3 release and full report and cover the quarter ended Sept 30, 2026.
The headline numbers (Q3 2026 vs Q3 2025)
| Q3 2026 | Q3 2025 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Net sales (reported) | EUR 5,154M | EUR 4,700M | +10% |
| Net sales, constant currency | +9% | ||
| Comparable gross margin | 44.6% | 44.8% | −20 bps |
| Comparable operating profit | EUR 605M | EUR 448M | +35% |
| Comparable operating margin | 11.7% | 9.5% | +220 bps |
| Reported operating margin | 3.8% | 5.4% | −160 bps |
| Comparable diluted EPS | EUR 0.09 | EUR 0.06 | +50% |
| Reported diluted EPS (continuing ops) | EUR 0.03 | EUR 0.01 |
The gap between "comparable" and "reported" is mostly restructuring and integration costs. Nokia said it accelerated both. If those terms are new, see EPS, beats and guidance explained.
The AI part
- AI & Cloud customer sales: EUR 631M vs EUR 279M a year earlier, +123% in constant currency.
- AI & Cloud order intake: +118%, with EUR 1.5B in new orders, per CEO Justin Hotard's comments in the release.
- Network Infrastructure sales grew 15% (constant currency), led by IP Networks +43% and Optical Networks +18%.
- Nokia said it's on track to finish integrating Infinera (an optical-networking company it bought) by the end of 2026, a year early, with EUR 200M of net synergies.
Why networking? Training and serving big models means thousands of GPUs talking to each other and to other sites. That traffic runs over optical links and routers. The power side of the same build-out is in AI data centres and the power grid.
Outlook (as of Oct 22, 2026)
- 2026 comparable operating profit: EUR 2.1–2.6B, unchanged.
- Q4 net sales assumed up 20–24% from Q3.
- Combined Optical and IP Networks expected to grow somewhat above the prior 18–20% assumption in 2026, and 25–30% in 2027.
- Free cash flow conversion assumption lowered to 35–55%, as Nokia plans an extra EUR 400M of working-capital investment to secure supply for 2027.
- Restructuring charges assumption raised to EUR 1.1B.
That supply comment echoes what memory makers are saying: components are tight, so buyers lock in early. See why RAM is so expensive.
Also in the report
- Nokia said it completed an AI-RAN call on a live operator network with T-Mobile and NVIDIA.
- Mobile Infrastructure sales grew 5%, partly because some revenue moved from Q4 into Q3.
- Board declared a EUR 0.03 dividend payable Nov 5, 2026.
- Next results: Jan 28, 2027. Other dates are in our AI earnings calendar.
