Nokia CEO Justin Hotard says customers would build data centers twice as fast if they could get the supplies they need. In an October 2026 interview on CNBC’s The Tech Download, he pointed to shortages of memory chips and energy. The “2x” is his conditional assessment of customer demand—not a measured construction rate or a forecast that global data-center capacity will double.
What did Nokia’s CEO say?
Hotard’s reported wording was: “If we could build 2x faster, our customers could build 2x faster, they probably would.” The remark appeared in coverage of his CNBC The Tech Download interview. It describes what he believes customers would do if supply allowed, not a promise about how quickly projects will be completed. The Next Web reported the statement on October 5, 2026; Quartz also quoted Hotard in its October 6, 2026 update.
Hotard also said that even without another frontier AI model release in the next three years, deploying technology that already exists could make substantial progress. That is his view about potential demand for existing AI, not a guarantee that spending or construction will follow.
Why does he say construction is constrained?
Hotard named memory chips and energy as supply constraints. He did not quantify how much each one slows construction, so his comments do not establish a specific number of delayed projects or a measured industry-wide shortfall.
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Energy has also appeared as a concern in a separate, limited survey. In a 2025 survey of 1,000 American executives conducted by Gemic for Nokia, 54% cited reliable and sustainable energy availability as a constraint on scaling AI, and up to 86% said energy costs would affect their AI expansion plans. These are respondents’ views, not measurements of global data-center construction. Nokia’s 2025 paper describes the survey.
What Nokia’s results show—and what they do not
Nokia has a business stake in data-center expansion: it sells specialized networking equipment, including switches, IP routers, and optical systems that connect computing infrastructure within data centers and link data centers to each other. Its results offer evidence about Nokia’s own orders and sales, but not a complete measure of demand across the industry.
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In its Q2 2026 report, Nokia said AI and Cloud order intake reached €2.8 billion and net sales to AI and Cloud customers rose 105% year over year. Nokia expected about half of those orders to convert to revenue over the following 12 months and said constrained supply was leading customers to place longer-term orders. The company also reported constant-currency growth of 20% in Optical Networks and 16% in IP Networks. These are Nokia-reported figures; they do not prove that customers generally could or would double construction. See Nokia’s Q2 and half-year 2026 report.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Does this mean data centers are being overbuilt?
Not by itself. Hotard’s claim supports one interpretation: customers want more capacity than current supplies let them build. Nokia’s reported orders and growth provide company-level evidence of demand for its infrastructure products. Neither establishes how much demand will persist once supply constraints ease, or whether every planned facility will earn enough revenue to justify its cost.
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The competing concern is that investment commitments could outrun durable demand from customers using and paying for AI services. Long-term equipment orders do not automatically become completed, operating data centers, and reported orders are not the same as realized revenue. The available statements do not settle the overbuilding debate; they describe current constraints and one supplier’s view of customer appetite.
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