Nokia appointed Justin Hotard, a tech industry expert in data centers and AI, as its next CEO, in a move that reinforces the company’s ambition to expand into new growth areas.

Finland's Nokia on Monday said Pekka Lundmark would step down as CEO, and that it has appointed Justin Hotard to take over his role.

In an unexpected turn of events Justin Hotard, the executive vice president and general manager of the Data Center and AI Group (DCAI) at Intel, left the company to become chief executive of Nokia. Intel has appointed an internal head for its datacenter and AI unit and will start searching for a new permanent general manager immediately.

Justin Hotard tapped to replace Pekka Lundmark at the Finnish telco Intel is going to need more than a new CEO after its Datacenter and AI (DCAI) chief on Monday announced he's leaving to run Nokia as its next chief executive.