Cisco Systems, headquartered in San Jose, California, is set to reduce its workforce by 7%, marking its second round of job cuts this year. The tech giant aims to refocus its attention on burgeoning sectors like artificial intelligence and cybersecurity. The exact number of job losses has not been disclosed, but with 84,900 employees as of July 2023, around 5,900 jobs could be affected by the upcoming layoffs. Earlier this year, in February, Cisco had announced a different round of job cuts amounting to approximately 4,000 positions.

Recognizing the evolution in technology trends, Cisco unveiled plans in June to invest $1 billion in startups specializing in AI, such as Cohere, Mistral, and Scale. Additionally, the company entered into a partnership with Nvidia to advance AI infrastructure development. Diversifying its portfolio further, Cisco introduced a cybersecurity readiness index earlier in the year, enabling enterprises to gauge their resilience against cyber threats.