Cisco is eliminating nearly 4,000 positions — approximately 5% of its global workforce — to restructure its cost base and redirect investment toward artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, the networking giant announced alongside better-than-expected fiscal third-quarter results.
CEO Chuck Robbins described the company as achieving record revenue and double-digit growth, while framing the redundancies as a strategic shift toward embedding AI across the organisation. The move follows a pattern seen across the tech industry, with Cloudflare and General Motors also citing AI priorities when announcing recent cuts despite strong financial performance.
Cisco’s cybersecurity investment comes as the company contends with a series of serious vulnerabilities in its routers and firewalls that have been exploited by hackers to infiltrate corporate and US government networks. A separate data breach affecting customer personal information occurred in 2025.
The latest cuts mark Cisco’s third significant round of redundancies since 2024, during which it shed thousands of additional roles. Robbins, whose 2025 compensation was reported at more than $52 million, did not address whether executive pay would be adjusted alongside the workforce reductions.
