Cisco’s AI infrastructure surge is turning a legacy networking giant into a re-rated platform contender for the next era of enterprise and hyperscale connectivity.
Overview
Cisco is repositioning itself from a mature networking hardware vendor into a core infrastructure platform for the AI era. Its business now spans Networking, Security, Collaboration, Observability and Services, with recurring subscriptions exceeding half of revenue. The $28 billion Splunk acquisition strengthens Cisco’s data, security and observability stack, while Silicon One and Acacia optics give it credibility in AI data centers. Despite fierce competition from Arista, NVIDIA and HPE-Juniper, record Q3 FY2026 results and a sharply raised AI order outlook suggest renewed strategic momentum.