Justin Hotard, who took over as EVP and GM of Intel's DCAI business just over a year ago, will replace Pekka Lundmark as Nokia's president and CEO on April 1, the Finnish telecommunications vendor said in a statement.

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 will replaced Pekka Lundmark as CEO of Finnish telecoms company Nokia on April 1. Hotard is currently the EVP and general manager of Data Center & AI Group at Intel.

Nokia Oyj will replace Chief Executive Officer Pekka Lundmark with Intel Corp.’s recently appointed head of artificial intelligence Justin Hotard in a surprise announcement as the network equipment maker works to exit a prolonged slump in orders from phone operators.