By Dominic Chopping

Nokia appointed Justin Hotard, a tech industry expert in data centers and AI business, as its next chief executive, in a move that reinforces the company's ambition to expand into new growth areas.

The Finnish telecommunication company recently signaled its aim to diversify and search for new growth outside of its traditional telecom operator market, having recently signed a deal worth $2.3 billion to buy networking-solutions provider Infinera as it bets on new business for data centers.

The company has said it expects data centers to be its number one growth driver in the coming years and has been boosting its spending to develop new products for the rapidly-expanding industry. It has already pledged to invest up to 100 million euros ($103.3 million) annually to broaden its market in data-center networking with a view to driving incremental net sales of 1 billion euros by 2028.

Justin Hotard, who currently leads Intel's Data Center and AI operations, will start in his new role on Apr. 1, taking over from Pekka Lundmark, who will continue as an adviser until the end of the year before leaving the company.

Prior to his role at Intel, Hotard held several leadership roles at large technology companies, including Hewlett Packard Enterprise and NCR Corp.

"He 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," said Sari Baldauf, Chair of Nokia's board of directors.

Lundmark has led Nokia since 2020 and the company said he had indicated that he wanted to consider moving on from executive roles when the repositioning of the business was in a more advanced stage, and when the right successor had been identified.

"Now, both of those conditions have been met, and he has decided to step down," Baldauf added.

Write to Dominic Chopping at dominic.chopping@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 10, 2025 02:21 ET (07:21 GMT)

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