Nokia. Stop chasing the spotlight.
Nokia was written off after the iPhone, then won a billion dollar investment from Nvidia.
THE GIST ON NOKIA: "The Comeback"
How did Nokia come back?
Once the most dominant mobile phone company in the world, Nokia collapsed in the smartphone era. In 2025, Nvidia invested a billion dollars in it, in a partnership focused on AI-enabled telecoms and data centre networks. Nokia is back, not as a phone brand but as infrastructure.
Has it reinvented itself before?
It started off making toilet paper, then rubber boots, then tyres, then mobile phones. This time it stopped competing in sexy, high-visibility markets and rebuilt where dependency is high: connectivity. Sectors that don't trend, but don't easily get replaced.
Why is Nvidia involved?
AI needs more than chips. It needs infrastructure to move massive amounts of data cheaply and reliably. Nokia survived a platform shift by not trying to beat the leader or regain cultural relevance, but by moving to where demand is structural and switching costs are high. Slower, less glamorous, much more durable.
Do you miss your old Nokia?
Your take. One tap, then see how everyone else voted.
Quick answers
How much did Nvidia invest in Nokia?
A billion dollars, in 2025.
What does Nokia do now?
Infrastructure for telecoms and data centre networks, not phones.
What is the lesson?
Move to where demand is structural and switching costs are high, instead of chasing the spotlight.
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