Börje Ekholm
Reinvention of Ericsson for the AI Powered Connectivity Era
By Afef Yousf
Few transformations in the telecommunications industry have been as closely associated with a single chief executive as the reinvention of Ericsson under Börje Ekholm. When he became President and CEO of Ericsson in 2017, the Swedish technology company was facing considerable pressure, including intense competition, changing customer demands and the need to restore financial discipline. Nearly a decade later, Ekholm can look back on a company that has strengthened its position in mobile networks while expanding its ambitions into enterprise connectivity, programmable networks, artificial intelligence and the emerging era of intelligent infrastructure. Ericsson itself has described his tenure as a period in which the company turned around and emerged as a stronger global communications and technology leader.
Ekholm brought an unusual combination of engineering education and investment experience to Ericsson. He holds a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden and an MBA from INSEAD in France. Before becoming Ericsson CEO, he served as CEO of Patricia Industries, a division of Investor AB, and previously held senior positions at Investor AB, Investor Growth Capital and McKinsey & Company. His experience therefore combined technical understanding with corporate strategy, investment and international business leadership.
That combination became particularly valuable because Ericsson needed more than technological innovation. It needed a clearer commercial direction. Ekholm placed significant emphasis on restoring profitability, improving operational discipline and strengthening the company’s position in its core networks business. Rather than treating Ericsson as a company that needed to chase every emerging technology, he focused attention on areas where its engineering expertise and intellectual property could create sustainable competitive advantages.
The strategy gradually produced results. Ericsson’s 2025 full year revenue reached SEK 236.7 billion, while full year EBIT was SEK 38.6 billion. During the fourth quarter of that year, the company recorded its ninth consecutive quarter of year over year adjusted EBITA margin expansion. Management also highlighted strong free cash flow and a stronger financial position, allowing Ericsson to continue investing in research and development while returning capital to shareholders.
For Ekholm, financial improvement was never simply an objective in itself. The larger purpose was to create the resources required to maintain Ericsson’s technological leadership. Telecommunications is a capital and research intensive industry in which companies must invest years before new network generations become commercially important. Maintaining leadership in mobile networks therefore requires a willingness to invest ahead of the market while also ensuring that the business remains financially sustainable.
This philosophy has become increasingly important as the industry moves from 5G toward the next generation of intelligent connectivity. Ericsson has been developing a vision in which networks are not merely pipes carrying information but intelligent platforms capable of supporting artificial intelligence, autonomous systems and increasingly sophisticated digital services. Ekholm has described this emerging environment as an era of hyperconnectivity in which everything that can be connected increasingly will be connected.
Artificial intelligence now sits at the centre of Ericsson’s future strategy. The company believes networks must evolve alongside AI because AI applications can generate new patterns of traffic, demand lower latency and require greater capacity. At Ericsson’s Mobile World Congress programme in 2026, Ekholm highlighted the rapid expansion of connected devices, the spread of AI into applications and devices and the growing importance of telecommunications infrastructure to national security. He argued that these forces would reshape the connectivity industry.
This has led Ericsson toward the concept of AI native networks. Instead of simply building networks that carry AI traffic, the company wants networks themselves to become more intelligent. Artificial intelligence can be used to automate operations, improve network performance, identify problems before they affect customers and create new services for operators and enterprises. Ericsson’s partnership with LG Uplus in 2026 to explore network based voice AI illustrates this direction, with the companies working toward intelligent and programmable networks capable of supporting new AI driven communication experiences.
The opportunity is significant because AI is changing the demands placed on mobile networks. Traditional mobile traffic has largely been designed around people consuming content, but AI applications increasingly involve machines and devices continuously collecting and transmitting information. AI enabled vehicles, drones, wearables and industrial systems may require high capacity uplinks, extremely low latency and dependable connections. Ericsson believes that advanced 5G and eventually 6G will be critical to supporting these applications.
Ekholm has therefore pushed the company to think about the network as part of the AI economy rather than simply as infrastructure supporting conventional telecommunications services. Ericsson’s 2025 annual report described the strategy as building the best networks for AI and with AI, combining connectivity with ultra low latency, faster uplink speeds and edge computing capabilities. The company is also using AI internally to improve efficiency, customer experience and network performance.
Another important element of Ekholm’s strategy has been strengthening Ericsson’s position in mission critical networks and enterprise technology. Traditional mobile network investment can fluctuate according to operator spending cycles, so Ericsson has sought additional opportunities where its connectivity technology can support businesses and industries directly. Mission critical communications, enterprise networking, cloud software and application programming interfaces are becoming increasingly important components of this broader strategy.
The company’s acquisition of Vonage was part of this effort to expand beyond traditional network equipment. Ericsson has worked to refocus Vonage around communications platforms and APIs, seeking to connect network capabilities with enterprise software and digital services. In 2026, Ericsson announced changes to the leadership of its Global Communications Platform business as it continued efforts to restore growth and accelerate the turnaround of the Vonage operation.
Geographic resilience has also become a major part of Ericsson’s strategy. Telecommunications infrastructure has become increasingly intertwined with national security and supply chain considerations, particularly as governments pay greater attention to trusted technology providers. Ericsson has invested in local manufacturing and research capabilities in important markets including the United States, India and Japan. The company has described these investments as part of an effort to strengthen resilience while maintaining an open and competitive technology ecosystem.
The United States is particularly important to Ericsson. The company describes America as its largest market and most important innovation hub, with operations across all 50 states and thousands of employees. In 2026, Ericsson highlighted work in the United States involving 6G research, AI driven network automation and drone detection using existing cellular infrastructure. Ekholm has argued that the future of industrial leadership will increasingly depend on connectivity and that Ericsson intends to contribute to that future.
Innovation has remained central throughout Ekholm’s tenure. Ericsson celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2026, providing an opportunity to reflect on a history that stretches from the early development of telecommunications to modern mobile networks. During the anniversary year, Ekholm emphasised that Ericsson’s ability to change has always been fundamental to its success. He positioned the company’s current transition toward AI powered 5G and intelligent networks as another major technological turning point.
The company’s recent financial performance suggests that the transformation has created a stronger foundation. In the second quarter of 2026, Ericsson reported sales of SEK 52.7 billion and an adjusted gross margin of 48.4 percent. The company also reported a strong net cash position and continued to invest while returning capital to shareholders. Mobile Networks showed improved margins, while Cloud Software and Services continued its margin expansion.
Yet Ekholm’s leadership is approaching its conclusion. In June 2026, Ericsson announced that Ekholm would step down as President and CEO on September 30, 2026. Per Narvinger, currently Head of Business Area Networks, has been appointed to succeed him from October 1. Ekholm will remain as an executive advisor to the new CEO until June 15, 2027, helping provide continuity during the leadership transition.
The timing of the succession is significant because Ericsson is entering an important technological period. The company is positioning itself for AI native networks, advanced 5G, 6G and new forms of programmable connectivity. The challenge for the next leadership team will be to continue Ekholm’s emphasis on financial discipline while turning these emerging technologies into meaningful commercial opportunities.
Börje Ekholm’s legacy at Ericsson is therefore likely to be defined by both recovery and reinvention. He inherited a company facing significant challenges and spent his tenure rebuilding its financial foundations, sharpening its strategic focus and reinforcing its position in mobile networks. At the same time, he pushed Ericsson toward new opportunities in enterprise connectivity, programmable networks and artificial intelligence.
His most important contribution may ultimately be the way he has reframed Ericsson’s role in the technology economy. The company is no longer thinking about networks simply as infrastructure for smartphones. It is preparing for a world in which artificial intelligence, autonomous machines, industrial systems and connected devices depend on increasingly intelligent communications infrastructure.
The next generation of connectivity will require networks that can adapt, learn and respond to changing demands. Ericsson is already developing technologies aimed at that future, including AI enabled and programmable network platforms. Its recent RAN Compute platform, selected by NTT DOCOMO in Japan, is designed to support 4G, 5G, 5G Advanced and AI workloads while enabling longer term network evolution.
Ekholm’s journey at Ericsson consequently represents a transition from one technological era to another. He helped move the company through a difficult turnaround and positioned it for a future in which connectivity becomes increasingly intertwined with artificial intelligence. As he prepares to leave the CEO role after more than nine years, the organisation he hands over is financially stronger, strategically more focused and deeply involved in defining what AI powered networks could become.
His tenure demonstrates that the future of telecommunications will not be determined solely by faster connections. It will depend on how intelligently those connections can operate, how effectively they support new applications and how successfully technology companies can convert enormous infrastructure investments into new sources of value. Börje Ekholm leaves Ericsson at precisely that point of transition, with the company preparing to move from the 5G era toward a world of AI native, programmable and increasingly autonomous networks.
