Cisco Sees AI Networking Supercycle Driving Growth

Cisco Systems, Inc., led by Chairman and CEO Chuck Robbins, emphasized its focus on AI networking during its fourth-quarter earnings call. The company highlighted a growing demand for AI infrastructure across hyperscalers, enterprises, and telecom customers.

Robbins pointed to the fact that total product orders rose 35% year-over-year in Q4, with networking orders increasing by 40%. This marks an eighth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth. Enterprise product orders rose 21%, public-sector orders climbed 30%, and service-provider and cloud orders advanced 95%.

Cisco's AI infrastructure ambitions were also underscored during the call. The company took $4 billion in hyperscaler AI infrastructure orders in Q4, bringing its total to $9.3 billion for fiscal 2026. Cisco expects revenues from hyperscalers to reach $7.5 billion in fiscal 2027.

Executive Vice President and CFO Mark Patterson noted that excluding the $7.5 billion hyperscaler AI target leaves the core business growing about 10% in fiscal 2027. He also predicted security and observability will move from low-single-digit to high-single-digit growth, while services are expected to return to low-single-digit growth.