Cisco is preparing for another round of layoffs that will likely result in the loss of thousands of jobs as the company refocuses on rapidly expanding fields like artificial intelligence (AI) and cybersecurity.
This action comes after the corporation let rid of 4,000 employees in a similar layoff that occurred earlier this year in February.
Cisco employed about 84,900 individuals as of July 2023, however this figure does not take into consideration the layoffs that occurred in February..
Cisco made a significant business diversification move when it paid $28 billion to acquire the cybersecurity company Splunk
Cisco wants to go into a more recurrent and consistent revenue industry, therefore it is branching out into cybersecurity.
AI is another area of interest for Cisco in addition to cybersecurity. The company reaffirmed in May that it wants to generate $1 billion in orders for AI products by 2025.
The computer industry is experiencing a general trend of cost-cutting by businesses to offset their large investments in artificial intelligence, which includes the impending layoffs at Cisco.
These layoffs are indicative of larger cost-cutting strategies being implemented by IT businesses as they make significant investments in artificial intelligence.