Analyst(s): Futurum Research
Publication Date: August 14, 2026

Cisco’s Q4 FY 2026 earnings showed broad demand across networking, security, and AI infrastructure, with hyperscaler orders becoming a larger part of the company’s growth outlook. The results suggest Cisco is gaining relevance as enterprises, service providers, and cloud customers prepare networks for AI workloads, security exposure, and infrastructure refresh cycles.

What Is Covered in This Article:

• Cisco’s Q4 FY 2026 financial results
• AI infrastructure orders gain scale
• Networking refresh cycle broadens demand
• Security and Splunk momentum improve
• Guidance and Final Thoughts

The News: Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) reported Q4 FY 2026 revenue of $17.25 billion, up 18% year over year (YoY), above Wall Street consensus of $16.85 billion. Product revenue was $13.46 billion, up 24% YoY, while services revenue was $3.79 billion and flat YoY. Networking revenue was $9.79 billion, up 28% YoY; security revenue was $2.23 billion, up 14% YoY; collaboration revenue was $1.17 billion, up 12% YoY; and observability revenue was $275 million, up 6% YoY. Non-GAAP operating income was $6.20 billion, up 23% YoY, with a non-GAAP operating margin of 35.9% (Q4 FY 2025: 34.4%). Non-GAAP net income was $4.87 billion, up 23% YoY, and non-GAAP earnings per share was $1.22, up 23% YoY.

“In Q4, we delivered record revenue, non-GAAP operating income and EPS, all exceeding the high end of our guidance ranges and demonstrating strong financial discipline and operating leverage,” said Mark Patterson, CFO of Cisco. “In fiscal 2026, Cisco achieved its highest productivity metrics in 30 years, measured by revenue, non-GAAP operating margin, and earnings per employee. As we enter fiscal 2027, we remain focused on delivering durable growth, consistent profitability, and continued capital returns as we make the strategic investments to capitalize on the significant growth opportunities we see ahead.”

Cisco Q4 FY 2026 Earnings Point to Broader AI Infrastructure Demand

Analyst Take: Cisco’s Q4 FY 2026 results show a company benefiting from AI-related network buildouts while still seeing demand in core enterprise infrastructure. The quarter was not limited to hyperscaler AI spending, as enterprise, public sector, telco, campus, and security orders all contributed to demand. Cisco is using Silicon One, optics, security, observability, and cloud management to position its portfolio around distributed AI infrastructure.

AI Infrastructure Moves Beyond a Single Customer Set

Cisco took $4 billion in AI infrastructure orders from hyperscalers in Q4 FY 2026, bringing FY 2026 AI infrastructure orders to $9.3 billion. The mix was roughly 60% Silicon One-based systems and 40% optics, which shows Cisco is not only selling connectivity components but also full networking systems. Acacia also had more than $1 billion in orders during the quarter, while Cisco has shipped more than 850,000 400-gig and more than 75,000 800-gig coherent pluggable optics to date. The company also recorded more than $400 million in AI infrastructure orders from neocloud, sovereign, and enterprise customers in Q4 FY 2026, bringing that annual total above $1 billion. Enterprise Nexus switch orders tagged for AI deployments rose more than 85% sequentially, pointing to a broader shift toward private AI infrastructure. Cisco’s AI opportunity now spans hyperscalers, neoclouds, sovereign cloud, telcos, and enterprises, which reduces reliance on any single deployment model.

Networking Refresh Broadens Across Campus and Data Center

Networking product orders rose 40% YoY in Q4 FY 2026, marking the eighth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth for the portfolio. Demand came from service provider routing, Acacia optics, data center switching, compute, campus switching, wireless, enterprise routing, and industrial IoT products. Campus networking product orders grew 20% YoY, while data center networking orders grew more than 35% YoY. Wi-Fi 7 orders represented more than 50% of total wireless orders in the quarter, suggesting customers are moving quickly to newer access technologies. More than half of Cisco customers purchased both campus and data center networking solutions, which supports Cisco’s platform-based account strategy. The refresh cycle is becoming broader because AI readiness, end-of-support replacement, security posture, and quantum-safe planning are all pushing network investment at the same time.

Security and Observability Strengthen the AI Infrastructure Story

Security revenue grew 14% YoY in Q4 FY 2026, supported by Splunk, network security, and secure access service edge (SASE). Cisco added more than 1,500 customers for Secure Access, extended detection and response (XDR), Hypershield, and AI Defense during the quarter, bringing total net-new customers for these products to more than 6,400 since launch. Firewall orders grew more than 30% in Q4 FY 2026, extending a second consecutive quarter of 30% growth. Splunk added more than 280 new logos in the quarter and exceeded its annual target of 1,000 new logos. Galileo Technologies and Astrix Securities add to Cisco’s observability and non-human identity security coverage, both relevant as AI agents create new control and identity requirements. Cisco’s security portfolio is moving closer to the AI networking thesis because securing users, applications, devices, and agents increasingly depends on telemetry across the network.

Guidance and Final Thoughts

Cisco guided Q1 FY 2027 revenue to $18.0 billion to $18.2 billion, with non-GAAP gross margin of 65% to 66%, non-GAAP operating margin of 35.5% to 36.5%, and non-GAAP EPS of $1.32 to $1.34. For FY 2027, Cisco expects revenue of $72.2 billion to $73.4 billion and non-GAAP EPS of $5.05 to $5.11. Hyperscaler AI infrastructure revenue is expected to reach $7.5 billion in FY 2027, compared with approximately $4.0 billion in FY 2026, providing a meaningful incremental growth driver. Importantly, management expects the core business to grow about 10% excluding hyperscaler AI infrastructure revenue, indicating that enterprise refresh, security, and broader networking demand remain supportive. Higher hardware mix and memory costs could continue to pressure product gross margin, making operating leverage an important offset. If Cisco can convert its expanding AI order pipeline while sustaining double-digit growth across the core business, then FY 2027 should demonstrate that its growth profile extends beyond a hyperscaler-driven infrastructure cycle.

See the full press release on Cisco’s Q4 FY 2026 financial results on the company website.

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