Cisco cuts thousands of jobs, 7% of workforce, as it shifts focus to AI, cybersecurity

By The Associated Press on August 14, 2024.

SAN JOSE, California (AP) – Cisco Systems is planning to lay off 7% of its employees, its second round of job cuts this year as the company shifts its focus to more rapidly growing areas in technology, such as artificial intelligence and cybersecurity.

The company based in San Jose, California, did not specify the number of jobs it is cutting. It had 84,900 employees as of July 2023. Based on that figure, the number of jobs cut would be about 5,900. In February, Cisco announced it would cut about 4,000 jobs.

The networking equipment maker said in June that it would invest $1 billion in tech startups like Cohere, Mistral and Scale to develop reliable AI products. It recently also announced a partnership with Nvidia to develop infrastructure for AI systems.

In a foray into cybersecurity, Cisco launched a cybersecurity readiness index back in March to help businesses measure their resiliency against attacks.

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