Cisco Chair and CEO Chuck Robbins said Thursday that the industry is entering a "networking supercycle" driven by surging AI demand.
The shift signals a prolonged growth phase for networking equipment makers as companies scramble to build the infrastructure required to support artificial intelligence tools.
Robbins discussed the trend during an interview on CNBC’s "Squawk on the Street" on Thursday. He said the surge in AI demand is driving the industry toward this supercycle. The announcement coincided with a significant market reaction, as Cisco stock rose about 14% [1] after the company beat its guidance for AI-infrastructure and hyperscaler orders.
Robbins said the market reacted with that jump in the stock following the guidance beat [3]. According to CNBC, this represents the best trading day for Cisco in more than two decades [2].
The growth is primarily fueled by the need for specialized equipment that can handle the massive data loads required by AI models. This demand is pushing networking hardware into a new era of expansion, one that Robbins suggests is happening right now.
"We are entering a networking supercycle right now," Robbins said during the interview [1].
Cisco's ability to exceed its own projections for hyperscaler orders suggests that the largest cloud providers are accelerating their investments in the physical layer of AI. This trend reflects a broader industry move where the focus is shifting from the AI chips themselves to the networking fabric that connects them.
“"We are entering a networking supercycle right now,"”
This development indicates that the AI boom is moving beyond the initial phase of GPU procurement and into the critical phase of infrastructure scaling. For the broader tech economy, a 'networking supercycle' suggests that the physical bottlenecks of AI—such as data transfer speeds and connectivity—are now the primary drivers of capital expenditure for hyperscalers.
