Nokia Wins Moody's Investment-Grade Nod as AI Traffic Forecast and Hotwire Deal Land Together
Published on 11/07/2026 at 00:20 | Editorial boerse-global.de
Moody's lifted Nokia's long-term issuer rating and the rating on its senior unsecured debt from Ba1 to Baa3 on Tuesday, pushing the Finnish network equipment maker into investment-grade territory. The outlook stays positive, and the agency tied the upgrade to growth in Network Infrastructure — citing demand linked to artificial intelligence and cloud applications. The move covers Nokia both as an issuer and on its senior unsecured bonds, pairing the higher credit grade with a continued positive view on the company's trajectory.
Equity markets took the news in stride. Nokia shares were up 2.9% at EUR 6.96 on Wednesday, building on the momentum from the rating action.
A 44% AI Share by 2035
The same day, Nokia published its "Global Network Traffic Report," which projects that AI will account for 44% of worldwide network traffic by 2035. Total monthly traffic is expected to nearly quadruple from 2026 levels, reaching almost 3,789 exabytes per month. Both figures describe Nokia's outlook for the evolution of global network traffic — not a revenue forecast for the company itself.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying Nokia?
Hotwire Picks Nokia for North Carolina Build
Nokia also disclosed a concrete customer win on Wednesday: Hotwire Communications has selected the company to build a next-generation network in North Carolina. The network will be prepared for AI fabric — networking designed to support AI workloads. Nokia expects the project to go live in early 2027, meaning the start of operations is still ahead; the announcement did not report a network already in service.
Jefferies Flags Data Center Spending — and Marvell
Analyst house Jefferies weighed in on the demand side, pointing to investments by major cloud providers in cloud infrastructure and data centers. At the same time, it named Marvell as a competitor in some areas of the business, linking its investment outlook with a note of caution on competition in parts of Nokia's portfolio.
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Nokia Stock: New Analysis - 7 November
Fresh Nokia information released. What's the impact for investors? Our latest independent report examines recent figures and market trends.
