Nokia profit doubles in 3rd quarter on AI spending

By HELSINKI: Finnish telecoms equipment maker Nokia said Thursday profit almost doubled in the third quarter, boosted by investment in AI. Profit in the quarter rose to 156 million euros ($175 million) from 80 million in the same period the year before, while sales rose 10 percent to 5.2 billion euros, beating analyst expectations. The company said sales to artificial intelligence and cloud-networking clients rose 123 percent in the quarter from a year earlier. 'Nokia's strengths are uniquely suited to meet growing demands for AI infrastructure that is larger, more distributed and hyperconnected,' chief executive Justin Hotard said in a statement. 'We are investing where we can differentiate and co-innovate with hyperscalers,' he added, citing Google's 13-billion-euro investment to build a data centre in Finland. Operating profit was 605 million euros, up 35 percent from 448 million a year earlier, exceeding expectations of analysts, who had forecast 462 million euros.