Cisco cuts nearly 4,000 jobs to spend more on AI, reports ‘record quarterly revenue’

Technology giant Cisco has decided to cut nearly 4,000 jobs, or about 5% of its workforce, despite reporting better-than-expected earnings and revenue in its fiscal third quarter.

The networking equipment manufacturer said it is reducing its staff in order to change its “cost structure” and invest in artificial intelligence and cybersecurity.

Cisco’s decision follows a recent trend of technology companies increasingly citing the priority of AI spending as a reason to let employees go. Both Cloudflare and General Motors have laid off employees in recent days, despite reporting strong financial results.

Cisco said it plans to increase investment in cybersecurity, as the company continues to face a slew of vulnerabilities in its routers and firewalls that have allowed hackers to break into the networks of its corporate customers, including the U.S. government. Last year, Cisco also experienced a data breach in which customers’ personal information was affected.

In a blog post published Wednesday, Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins praised the company’s “record revenue” and “double-digit growth,” while acknowledging that Cisco was making strategic investments “in our employees’ use of AI across the company.”

According to public filings, Robbins was set to earn more than $52 million in executive compensation through 2025. When reached by TechCrunch, a Cisco spokesperson would not comment beyond Robbins’ statement or, for example, when asked, whether Robbins planned to reduce his compensation.

This is the latest round of job cuts at Cisco in recent years. The company laid off thousands of employees during two separate layoffs in 2024 and eliminated more than 150 jobs in 2025.