Key Highlights

● Nokia fell on October 22 despite AI and cloud sales more than doubling.

● Comparable operating profit was €605 million against €453 million.

● Reports on the quarter were mixed, with one citing a beat and another a miss.

● European stocks had their biggest drop in three weeks.

Nokia (NYSE:NOK) fell on Thursday, October 22, 2026, ranking among the decliners on the NYSE Composite after reporting quarterly results that showed explosive growth in its artificial intelligence and cloud business. The Finnish company's American depositary receipts trade on the New York Stock Exchange.

The drop highlighted a theme that ran through the whole session: on a day when investors were pulling back from anything tied to AI infrastructure, strong numbers were not always enough.

Strong AI and cloud growth

Nokia's sales to AI and cloud customers more than doubled from a year earlier, according to reports on the quarter. The company reported comparable operating profit of €605 million, against a comparison figure of €453 million.

Accounts of the quarter were mixed. One report said Nokia fell despite a beat, while another grouped the company among those that missed expectations on Thursday morning. That split may help explain why investors did not reward the results.

Nokia has been repositioning itself as a supplier of networking equipment for data centers, in addition to its traditional business of building mobile network gear for telecom carriers. Its optical networking and IP routing products are used to connect the computing clusters that power AI systems.

Caught in the AI hardware selloff

Thursday's market was defined by a sharp retreat from AI-linked stocks. Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) reported heavy spending on AI, its first cash outflow in more than a decade according to market data, and roughly $825 billion in spending commitments. Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX)'s outlook cited supply constraints.

Networking and optical names were hit hard. Corning (NYSE:GLW) fell sharply in an optical-names selloff, while Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET), Amphenol (NYSE:APH) and Keysight (NYSE:KEYS) also tumbled. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index posted its biggest one-day drop since June 23.

IBM (NYSE:IBM)'s chief executive added to the debate about whether AI spending will pay off. "They are also getting worried if some of the AI spending is completely out of control with no real return," he said.

Global markets under pressure

The selling was worldwide. In Asia, South Korea's Kospi, Hong Kong's Hang Seng and Japan's Nikkei all fell, and China's CSI 300 entered a bear market. European stocks posted their biggest drop in three weeks, according to market data.

In New York, the Nasdaq Composite fell 694.00 points to 26,008.86, its steepest drop since June 5. The S&P 500 lost 93.74 points to 7,663.43, its worst day since July. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 11.89 points to 52,867.98, and about two of every three S&P 500 stocks rose, according to market reports.

Nokia Tracks AI Infrastructure Sentiment

The near-term direction for Nokia may depend less on its own results than on sentiment toward AI infrastructure. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) report on Wednesday, October 28, and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) reports on October 29. Any change in their data center spending plans could shape how investors value suppliers like Nokia.

Investors will also watch whether Nokia's AI and cloud growth can offset slower spending by traditional telecom carriers, and for more detail on profitability in its network infrastructure business. On the macro side, the Federal Reserve announces its decision on October 28.