Nokia shares gained around 13,000 additional retail shareholders between July and September 2026, making the Finnish technology company the second most widely owned stock on the Helsinki exchange.
According to figures from the Finnish Foundation for Share Promotion (Pörssisäätiö), reported by Yle on 26 October, Nokia overtook financial services company Mandatum in the ranking of companies with the largest numbers of individual shareholders.
Nordea retained first place, with nearly 340,000 retail shareholders at the end of September. The ranking is based on registered share ownership rather than trading volumes or changes in share prices.
Why AI is attracting investors to Nokia shares
Sari Lounasmeri, chief executive of the Finnish Foundation for Share Promotion, believes Nokia’s growing popularity is partly explained by its collaboration with Nvidia, the USA chipmaker at the centre of the artificial intelligence industry.
The two companies announced a strategic partnership in October 2025 to develop AI-powered mobile networks, future 6G technologies and networking infrastructure for data centres.
For Nokia, the collaboration is part of a broader transformation from its former mobile phone business towards telecommunications networks and AI infrastructure, a shift previously examined by NordiskPost.
The company’s latest financial results also demonstrate the importance of that business. In its third-quarter report published on 22 October, Nokia said sales to AI and cloud customers had increased by 123% compared with the same period in 2025.
The growth provides context for investors’ interest, although the ownership figures do not establish how much of the increase was directly caused by expectations surrounding artificial intelligence.
Wärtsilä and Elisa also attract new shareholders
Nokia was not the only Finnish company to gain retail shareholders during the third quarter.
Industrial technology group Wärtsilä recorded approximately 6,400 additional shareholders, while telecommunications operator Elisa gained around 5,400, according to figures published by Taloustaito.
Lounasmeri also linked Wärtsilä’s popularity to its involvement in data-centre projects, suggesting that investor interest in AI infrastructure extends beyond companies directly developing artificial intelligence technologies.
The foundation publishes its ownership rankings quarterly using data from Euroclear Finland. The figures track the number of individual shareholders, excluding institutional investors, professional investors and estates.
For Nokia, the latest increase marks another development in its changing relationship with Finnish retail investors, as the company’s expansion into AI-related infrastructure draws greater attention to its shares.
