Nokia announced on Tuesday that Nvidia will take a $1 billion stake in the networking technology company. This is the latest partnership for Nvidia, the artificial intelligence chip maker. Nokia shares jumped 22% after the news was announced.
Nokia will issue more than 166 million new shares and the proceeds will be used to fund its artificial intelligence-related initiatives and other general corporate operations.
The two companies have also entered into a strategic partnership to jointly develop next-generation 6G communications technology. Nokia said it will adapt its 5G and 6G software to run on Nvidia's chips and will collaborate on artificial intelligence network technology.
Nokia said that Nvidia will consider integrating Nokia's technology in its future artificial intelligence infrastructure planning.
Nokia is a Finnish company best known for its early mobile phones but has transformed in recent years primarily into a supplier of 5G communications equipment to telecom operators.
News of the partnership comes as Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang prepares to address policymakers and government leaders in Washington, D.C., and serve as a keynote speaker at the company's developer conference.
It is expected that Nokia and Nvidia will introduce some of their cooperation contents and plans at this conference.
Nvidia, which is at the heart of artificial intelligence, has made equity investments in a number of strategic partners in recent months.
In September, Nvidia pledged to invest $5 billion in former rival Intel and announced a $100 billion investment in OpenAI. In addition, Nvidia has committed $500 million to self-driving car startup Wayve and $667 million to British cloud services provider Nscale.
