Cisco, the San Jose-based technology giant, has announced another round of layoffs affecting Bay Area workers, marking a familiar pattern of reporting skyrocketing revenue followed by drastic job cuts.
According to Aug. 13 WARN filings with California’s Employment Development Department, the company will eliminate 221 positions across its Milpitas and San Francisco offices. WARN documents are generally required by the state in the event of mass layoffs.
Employees were notified of the layoffs on Aug. 14 and their terminations will be effective Oct. 13. The most cuts, affecting 157 jobs, largely in software engineering roles, were at Cisco’s Milpitas office at 560 McCarthy Blvd. Cisco’s San Francisco office at 500 Terry A. Francois Blvd. will cut 64 positions, according to the filing.
The filings came the same day Cisco released its fourth-quarter earnings, which reported $14.7 billion in revenue, an 8% increase from the same quarter last year. Revenue for the 2025 fiscal year was $56.7 billion, up 5% from the previous year.
Cisco’s financial report also pointed to the company’s AI infrastructure, which generated $2 billion in revenue for the fiscal year, more than double its $1 billion goal. Cisco stated it plans to expand its AI investments in the next year but did not reference any workforce reductions or financial difficulties.
In a Thursday interview with CNBC on the same day of the report, CEO Chuck Robbins addressed AI technology in the company’s workforce.
“I don’t want to receive rid of a bunch of people right now. I don’t want to receive rid of engineers,” Robbins stated. “I just want our engineers we have today to innovate rapider and be more productive and that gives us a competitive advantage.”
Robbins stated if AI keeps advancing at Cisco, the company could possibly hire fewer employees. Cisco did not respond to SFGATE’s request for comment on the latest round of layoffs.
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