3 Minutes
A new hub for AI-powered connectivity
Nokia has inaugurated a major R&D and manufacturing campus in Oulu, Finland, positioning the site as a strategic center for AI-driven 5G and future 6G development. The facility, dubbed the 'Home of Radio,' opened on September 5 and will bring roughly 3,000 researchers, engineers, and production staff together under one roof to shorten the path from prototype to production.
Campus capabilities and product features
The Oulu campus is designed to span the full product lifecycle: early testing and chip architecture, system-on-chip (SoC) development, hardware assembly, software integration, and patent work. On-site manufacturing will produce 5G radio units and baseband equipment, enabling Europe-built networks with stronger supply chain control and enhanced security. By combining simulated labs with live network environments, the site supports both virtual and real-world validation of radio access networks, low-latency services, and edge AI deployments.
Key technology features
- Integrated R&D and factory for rapid prototyping and scaled manufacturing.
- System-on-chip and baseband design capabilities for optimized radio hardware.
- Testbeds that replicate live 5G and pre-6G scenarios for AI workloads and network slicing.
- End-to-end security and European-based production to support data sovereignty.
Comparisons and strategic advantages
Compared with dispersed R&D models, Nokia's centralized campus reduces handover delays between design, software, and manufacturing teams, accelerating time-to-market for new 5G and 6G innovations. The proximity to local universities, startups, and NATO’s DIANA Test Center strengthens collaboration on standardization and interoperability. For operators and enterprise customers, this convergence promises faster integration of AI capabilities into network functions and more resilient supply chains in Europe.
Use cases and market relevance
Nokia is positioning the campus to deliver connectivity solutions tailored for AI applications across multiple industries. Expected use cases include industrial IoT with edge inference, autonomous vehicles requiring ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC), smart city infrastructures, and private 5G networks for manufacturing and logistics. The facility’s emphasis on AI-driven radio optimization makes it particularly relevant for operators seeking to support large-scale machine learning workloads and real-time analytics at the network edge.
Sustainability and broader impact
Sustainability is central to the campus design: the facility runs entirely on renewable energy, and surplus heat will be redirected to the Oulu district heating network, benefitting around 20,000 homes. This aligns Nokia’s hardware and software innovation with Europe’s push for greener, locally produced telecom infrastructure and technological sovereignty as AI becomes more central to modern services.
Conclusion
By uniting R&D, standardization work, system-on-chip engineering, and production in one campus, Nokia aims to accelerate development of AI-capable 5G systems and lay groundwork for 6G. The Oulu 'Home of Radio' strengthens Europe’s telecom ecosystem while offering operators and enterprises a faster route to deploy secure, high-performance networks optimized for AI.
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