A hot potato: Cisco has announced that it will become the latest tech giant to lay off workers just as its revenue is soaring and AI becomes the most important focus. The move comes a week after CEO Chuck Robbins told an interviewer, "I don't want to get rid of a bunch of people right now."
If there's one sad trend that we see all too often in the tech industry, it's companies announcing huge revenue growth – usually with a nod toward AI – only to lay off hundreds or thousands of employees soon after.
According to filings with California's Employment Development Department, Cisco is laying off 221 people across its Milpitas and San Francisco offices. Most of the cuts, around 157 of them, will affect software engineering roles at the Milpitas office, writes People Matters.
Employees were notified of the layoffs on August 14. The terminations will be effective on October 13.
Filings for the layoffs were made on the same day that Cisco announced its fourth-quarter earnings. Revenue was up 8% year-on-year to $14.7 billion, while revenue for the entire 2025 fiscal year jumped 5% to $56.7 billion.
The layoffs come after Robbins gave an interview to CNBC – in the same week that the report was released – suggesting that agentic AI could slow down hiring at the company. However, the CEO also said that AI wasn't going to directly cost people their jobs. "I don't want to get rid of a bunch of people right now. I don't want to get rid of engineers," he said.
"I just want our engineers we have today to innovate faster and be more productive and that gives us a competitive advantage," Robbins added.
Chicago-based law firm Strauss Borrelli is investigating the layoffs over concerns that they may have violated the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, which requires US employers to give 60 days' notice before mass layoffs and to ensure proper procedures are followed.
Scott Herren, Cisco Chief Financial Officer, previously framed the AI-related job cuts as a "reallocation versus a headcount savings" exercise.
This isn't new ground for Cisco. The company laid off thousands of workers in 2024 while announcing $10.3 billion in annual profit. With the company planning to expand its AI investments in the next year, another round of layoffs could happen sooner rather than later.
The long-prophesized scenario of mass layoffs due to AI replacing workers continues to become a reality, even as companies' revenues soar. Microsoft is a prime example of this, having laid off 15,000 people this year so far, despite reporting highly profitable quarters – a contrast that CEO Satya Nadella calls the "enigma of success in an industry that has no franchise value."
Cisco lays off 221 people despite revenue surge and CEO's claim AI wouldn't cost jobs
