EU approves $2.3 billion takeover of Infinera by Nokia

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The EU Commission on Wednesday said it had unconditionally approved the $2.3 billion acquisition of U.S. optical semiconductors and networking equipment maker Infinera by Nokia.

The commission said the takeover raised no concerns, as the companies' combined market share in the supply of optical transport equipment would be moderate and would still face credible competition.

Reuters already reported earlier this month that Nokia was set for the unconditional approval for the deal, which it announced in June last year.

The acquisition will make it the second-largest vendor in the optical networking market with a 20% share, behind Huawei, which is benefiting from the minimal presence of Western companies in China.

The acquisition will allow Nokia to sell more equipment to big tech companies such as Amazon, Alphabet and Microsoft, which are investing billions of dollars in building new data centres to service the artificial intelligence boom.

(Reporting by Bart Meijer and Foo Yun Chee; Editing by GV De Clercq)