Pekka Lundmark, Nokia’s former boss, as soon as drew appreciative laughter from an viewers when he noticed that an iPhone made with vacuum tubes, the forerunner of the modern-day transistor, could be as large because the Empire State Constructing. The a lot smaller transistor, round 18 billion of that are included in an iPhone, was invented in 1947 by scientists at Bell Labs, a corporation Nokia picked up a decade in the past with its €15.6 billion (US$18.2 billion) takeover of Alcatel-Lucent. Below Finnish possession, it appears to have miniaturized extra than simply its elements.
Marcus Weldon, who labored as president of Bell Labs and Nokia’s chief expertise officer between 2016 and 2021, launched an unusually outspoken assault on his former employer in a LinkedIn submit this week. In it, he describes obvious cuts to R&D as “surprising and unprecedented” and observes “a need by the present management to erase the historical past of the group.”
That may very well be all the way down to “easy ignorance,” he writes. The choice rationalization, he continues, is that at this time’s management is embarrassed by its failure to be as impactful because the Bell Labs of yesteryear. His remarks observe the appointment in latest weeks of Guru Parulkar, a former Intel government, as head of Nokia Bell Labs.
Nokia later responded to Weldon’s criticism with the next assertion: “Nokia Bell Labs stays a deeply essential a part of Nokia, with an extended observe report of turning world-class analysis into applied sciences that ship industrial affect and transfer our trade ahead. At this time, we’re coming into a brand new chapter beneath Guru Parulkar’s management, bringing our analysis groups along with a unified concentrate on breakthrough science and expertise for the AI period, in keeping with Nokia’s long-term technique.”
But in accordance with Weldon’s estimate, cuts on the group have erased about half the analysis jobs at Bell Labs since he left in 2021. Again then, it employed greater than 1,200 folks in analysis, he says. If he’s proper, maybe solely 600 stay. As he notes, there was no public replace by Nokia on what he calls “the newest spherical of reductions.” However Weldon says they’re “very evident from LinkedIn posts.”
Unprecedented would appear a good description. Within the late Nineteen Nineties, as a subsidiary of Lucent Applied sciences, Bell Labs had a complete workforce of about 24,000 folks, in accordance with an article on the time from MIT Know-how Evaluation. Only one,300 of these labored on the R aspect of R&D, nonetheless. By the point Weldon moved on about 23 years later, the analysis workforce had shrunk by as few as 100 staff over this whole interval, primarily based on his estimate. Since then, it has misplaced as much as six instances as many, if his numbers are appropriate.
Dramatic downsizing
If staffing developments at Bell Labs are largely hidden from view, Nokia’s dramatic downsizing since Weldon left isn’t any secret. In 2021, it employed almost 88,000 folks on common worldwide, together with 11,000 in North America, the place Bell Labs is predicated. That meant 15,000 Nokia jobs had already disappeared since 2018. By 2025, headcount had dropped to 78,000, together with employees at Infinera, the optical gear maker that employed greater than 3,000 folks when Nokia acquired it in February that yr.
A breakdown of employees numbers by area exhibits many of the ache has been felt by staff in Higher China, which incorporates Hong Kong and Taiwan, quite than North America. Since 2021, headcount in that area has fallen by 5,000, giving Nokia a Higher China workforce of seven,200 staff final yr. Nokia’s North American employees have skilled a internet discount of simply 1,000 roles, to roughly 10,000 staff, over this identical interval.
What’s additionally clear is that cuts worldwide are anticipated to proceed. Below a restructuring program initiated by Lundmark, Nokia had beforehand anticipated to finish 2026 with 70,000 folks, excluding Infinera. Judging by numbers printed in its annual report, this might have meant chopping one other 4,100 jobs this yr. In relation to that, Nokia anticipated to incur restructuring prices for the complete yr of about €250 million ($291 million).
However that determine was sharply elevated to €800 million ($933 million) final month, when Nokia printed its second-quarter report. A chance to make additional cuts in Europe would add €200 million ($233 million) to the invoice, stated the corporate. The remaining €350 million ($408 million) was to go on restructuring in China following Nokia’s full takeover of Nokia Shanghai Bell, beforehand a Chinese language three way partnership with state-owned China Huaxin.
As subsequently revealed by Gentle Studying, Nokia now appears to be exiting China. It has confirmed it’ll shut an R&D facility in Hangzhou this yr, with the obvious lack of round 1,600 jobs. Screenshots obtained by this publication present messaging exchanges between Nokia staff that debate plans to shut different websites in Beijing, Chengdu, Qingdao and Shanghai. A lack of market share in China, from which Nokia’s senior managers have stated they anticipate to be fully excluded sooner or later, is basically blamed.
It is not about me
All this might make R&D cuts at different elements of Nokia a a lot greater concern. The corporate has beforehand confronted criticism for spending too little on R&D in contrast with its principal rivals, particularly in cell. That stated, Nokia’s monetary reviews present that total R&D spending has risen sharply within the final couple of years, rising from about €4.3 billion ($5 billion) in 2023 to almost €4.9 billion ($5.7 billion) in 2025. For the primary half of 2026, spending was up 6% year-over-year, to greater than €2.3 billion ($2.7 billion).
Regardless of the hefty cuts elsewhere, Nokia suffered an working lack of €50 million ($58 million) on a reported foundation for the latest second quarter, in contrast with a €147 million ($171 million) revenue the yr earlier than. Gross sales grew 8% over this era, to greater than €4.8 billion ($5.6 billion).
Weldon at this time serves as a board director for 2 smaller telecom and tech gamers, in accordance with his LinkedIn profile. He’s additionally beneath contract to advise Informa Group, Gentle Studying’s dad or mum firm, on its AI technique. However he appears significantly upset by the latest strikes of his former employer. Amongst different issues, he says, it has scrapped the job title of Bell Labs “President” and eliminated plaques honoring former presidents for the reason that group was based in 1925.
As if to stave off accusations of vainness, Weldon writes: “That is not at all about me – I used to be undoubtedly one of many lesser ones in a listing of pioneers of the digital age, whose greats needs to be celebrated in perpetuity, not diminished and eliminated.”
There may be, however, a broader sense that Bell Labs has misplaced a few of its former luster because the telecom sector has itself shrunk and been overtaken by different expertise forces. An R&D powerhouse of the twentieth century, Bell Labs exists at this time within the shadow of the American giants spending billions to develop AI, the expertise of the second. Microsoft’s R&D finances for its most up-to-date fiscal yr approached $36 billion. Alphabet’s topped $49 billion. Chips big Nvidia, now a Nokia shareholder, spent $18.5 billion.
Weldon reviews on a latest dialog with somebody who apparently expressed shock after listening to “a really senior chief at Nokia say that ‘Bell Labs hasn’t achieved something notable in 15 years [and so] the management could be altering.'” Weldon had initially dismissed that as “rumour” however now has a gloomier evaluation: “These are unhappy instances through which we dwell.”
Replace: This text has been amended because it was first printed to notice the appointment of Guru Parulkar as head of Nokia Bell Labs and embody Nokia’s touch upon Weldon’s criticism.
