IndeRes Trims Nokia Bearish Stance as Hotwire Taps Vendor for AI-Ready North Carolina Network

Nokia shares closed at EUR 7.00 on Wednesday, up 3.5%, a move that coincided with a broad rebound across AI-linked equities following a selloff earlier in the week. The advance came as Hotwire Communications named the Finnish vendor to build a next-generation network in North Carolina engineered for AI network architectures, with service activation targeted for early 2027.

The wider recovery in artificial-intelligence names was reported by the Associated Press, which flagged gains among companies tied to the construction of AI data centers. That coverage described the sector backdrop only; AP did not cast Nokia as the driver of the rally, nor did it attribute the stock's gain explicitly to the bounce in those businesses.

A Longer View on Traffic

Separately, Nokia's Global Network Traffic Report puts artificial intelligence at 44% of global network traffic by 2035 — a company forecast rather than a figure already achieved. For the same horizon, the vendor projects total worldwide traffic of almost 3,789 exabytes per month. Both numbers describe the global traffic pool, not Nokia's own business volumes, pairing an estimate of overall volume with an expectation for AI's share of it.

Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying Nokia?

The North Carolina contract offers a nearer-term reference point: Hotwire expects the network to go live at the start of 2027.

IndeRes Moves Off Its Sell Rating

On the analyst side, IndeRes issued a less downbeat view on October 26. According to media reports, the research house lifted its rating on Nokia from "Sell" to "Reduce" while raising its price target to EUR 7 from EUR 6.5.

IndeRes pointed to an adjusted operating quarterly profit that beat expectations, along with improved visibility in optical networks and IP networks. The revision stopped short of a buy call — "Reduce" remained the verdict after the change — and centered on the operating result and the business outlook in those network segments.

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