Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) shares surged in after-hours trading after the networking giant delivered stronger-than-expected quarterly results and raised its forward outlook, fueled by accelerating demand from artificial intelligence infrastructure and hyperscale cloud customers. The stock reaction reflected renewed investor confidence in Cisco’s ability to reposition itself as a core beneficiary of the AI-driven data center buildout.
The company reported revenue of approximately $15.8 billion for the quarter ended April 25, marking a 12% year-over-year increase. Net income climbed sharply to $3.37 billion, compared to $2.49 billion in the same period a year earlier. The results comfortably exceeded Wall Street expectations, which had projected $15.82 billion in revenue and adjusted earnings of $1.07 per share.
Cisco’s upbeat performance comes at a time when global cloud providers are aggressively expanding infrastructure to support AI workloads, particularly large language models and generative AI applications.
A key highlight from the report was Cisco’s rapidly growing exposure to hyperscalers, large cloud operators such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud. The company revealed that AI infrastructure and hyperscaler orders have already reached $5.3 billion so far this year.
This demand surge underscores Cisco’s growing relevance in the AI ecosystem, particularly as cloud providers race to expand data center capacity and improve networking efficiency. Cisco also raised its full-year AI infrastructure target to $9 billion, up significantly from a prior estimate of $5 billion.
The shift reflects a broader transformation in how cloud computing is evolving. As AI models become more complex and computationally demanding, the underlying networking systems that connect GPUs, storage, and servers are becoming increasingly critical.
Cisco’s recent gains are not accidental but the result of a long-term strategic shift that began several years ago. Since 2018, the company has been restructuring its business model to better align with cloud-first and AI-driven infrastructure demand.
One of the most important changes has been Cisco’s move toward disaggregation, selling hardware and software components separately to better meet the needs of hyperscale customers. This approach allows greater flexibility and scalability, both of which are essential for modern AI data centers.
The introduction of Silicon One, Cisco’s programmable networking chip family launched in 2019, has also played a central role in this transformation. These chips are designed to handle high-throughput, low-latency workloads that are essential for AI training and inference tasks.
Alongside its earnings beat, Cisco provided an optimistic outlook for the next quarter. The company expects fiscal Q4 revenue between $16.7 billion and $16.9 billion, with adjusted earnings projected at $1.16 to $1.18 per share. These forecasts exceeded analyst expectations, reinforcing confidence in sustained demand growth.
However, the company also confirmed it will reduce its workforce by fewer than 4,000 employees, or under 5% of its total staff. The layoffs, set to begin on May 14, are part of a broader restructuring effort aimed at reallocating resources toward high-growth areas such as AI infrastructure and cybersecurity.
Despite near-term margin pressure from rising component costs, particularly memory chips, Cisco has responded by adjusting pricing strategies and renegotiating terms with partners and customers.
The company is also exploring new opportunities in sovereign cloud infrastructure and AI-enabled telecom services, aiming to help service providers monetize AI workloads more effectively.
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