What Cisco makes for data centers
public · HQ San Jose, United States · cisco.com
Cisco makes data-center switch systems and Silicon One switch ASICs, and through its Acacia unit supplies coherent DCI optics and pluggable modules for links between data centers. It is a founding board member of the UALink scale-up interconnect consortium.
Listing
US exchanges (NYSE/Nasdaq): CSCO· 107 USD +1.44% · mkt cap 419.9B USD
Snapshot 2026-10-25T10:41:17Z — nightly, not real-time.· Chart on TradingView ↗
Exposure
5 parts across 2 layers
FY2025 results: AI infrastructure orders from webscale customers exceeded $2 billion for the fiscal year, including over $800 million in Q4 (Cisco Q4/FY2025 earnings release, investor.cisco.com).
Parts, by layer
Layer 3 — Networking & interconnect
| Part | Role | Confidence | Competitors | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scale-out switch ASICs | manufacturer | inferred | Broadcom, Marvell, Nvidia, Huawei | Silicon One |
| Switch systems & white-box ODMs | manufacturer | inferred | Quanta Computer, Accton (Edgecore), Alpha Networks, Arista, Celestica, Dell | |
| Optical transceivers | manufacturer | inferred | Accelink, Applied Optoelectronics, Broadcom, Coherent, Eoptolink, HG Genuine | |
| DCI / coherent optics | manufacturer | inferred | Adtran, Ciena, Coherent, Lumentum, Marvell, Nokia |
Layer 4 — Servers, racks & integration
| Part | Role | Confidence | Competitors | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rack-scale systems | oem | inferred | Quanta Computer, AMD, ASRock Rack, ASUS, Compal, Dell |
Where Cisco sits in the stack
Cisco's placements in this catalog cover 5 parts, from layer 3 (networking & interconnect) to layer 4 (servers, racks & integration). None of them currently carries a sourced supply constraint tag. Across these parts it overlaps with other companies most often on the lines below.
What these parts are
- Scale-out switch ASICs — The switch ASICs that route traffic between racks and pods, distinct from the scale-up fabric inside a single rack.
- Switch systems & white-box ODMs — The physical switches — built by branded vendors and white-box ODMs — that house scale-out switch ASICs and connect racks into a cluster fabric.
- Optical transceivers — Pluggable optical modules that convert electrical signals to light for transmission over fiber between switches and servers, sold at 400G, 800G, and 1.6T speeds.
- DCI / coherent optics — Coherent optical systems that carry data center interconnect (DCI) traffic between buildings on a campus or between metro sites, distinct from the shorter-reach optics inside a data hall.
- Rack-scale systems — A rack-scale system is the fully integrated cabinet of compute trays, switch trays, power shelves, cooling manifolds and busbar that ships as one wired unit rather than as discrete servers.
Closest peers in this catalog
Seen in real machines
Cisco is named in 1 of the rack teardowns and supercomputer breakdowns on this site. Each line below is a piece of that machine.
- Nvidia GB300 NVL72 · rack teardown
- Rack integration, ODM and OEM badge
Latest feed
- Cisco, Nvidia team up to build fatter, faster pluggable — The Register, 2026-10-14Cisco and Nvidia are collaborating on a high-speed USFP optical pluggable module capable of reaching 12.8 Tbps.
- Cisco expands AI networking with new chips, SONiC, cross-site deployment — DigiTimes, 2026-10-14Cisco is expanding its AI networking capabilities by deploying new switches powered by high-performance silicon and the SONiC operating system across various data center sites.
- Cisco, Nvidia target high-speed optical interconnects with 4x USFP density — DigiTimes, 2026-10-14Cisco and Nvidia are collaborating on high-density optical interconnects featuring 4x USFP density for data center networking.
- New USFP Pluggable Optics Form Factor for Higher Speeds from Cisco and NVIDIA — ServeTheHome, 2026-10-13Cisco and NVIDIA have announced a new USFP pluggable optics form factor designed to support higher data speeds.
- Nvidia and Cisco unveil new optics design to help scale AI factories — DigiTimes, 2026-10-13Nvidia and Cisco have introduced a new optical design engineered to support the scaling requirements of AI data centers.
- NVIDIA and Cisco Introduce New Pluggable Optics Form Factor to Scale AI Factories — HPCwire, 2026-10-12NVIDIA and Cisco have launched a new pluggable optics form factor designed to enhance scalability for AI data centers.
- Internet2 and Cisco Add AI Capacity to the National Research Platform — HPCwire, 2026-09-22Internet2 and Cisco are deploying new AI PODs at two universities to increase shared computing capacity for research and education.
- Cisco: CPO is ready for mass deployment amid surging AI data-center demand — DigiTimes, 2026-09-01Cisco announced that its Co-Packaged Optics (CPO) technology is ready for mass deployment to meet the high bandwidth demands of AI data centers.
- AMD, Cisco and HUMAIN Expand Saudi Arabia’s AI Infrastructure as AMD Instinct Systems Go Live — newsroom:amd, 2026-08-31AMD and Cisco are partnering with HUMAIN to expand AI infrastructure in Saudi Arabia using AMD Instinct systems.
- Cisco Secure AI Factory with NVIDIA Expands to Supermicro Rack-Scale Systems — ServeTheHome, 2026-08-29The Cisco Secure AI Factory with NVIDIA is expanding its offering to include integrated rack-scale systems from Supermicro for larger AI cluster deployments.
Questions about Cisco
- What does Cisco make for AI data centers?
- This catalog places Cisco on 5 parts: Scale-out switch ASICs (manufacturer), Switch systems & white-box ODMs (manufacturer), Optical transceivers (manufacturer), DCI / coherent optics (manufacturer) and Rack-scale systems (oem).
- Is Cisco publicly traded?
- Yes — Cisco is listed on US exchanges (NYSE/Nasdaq) under CSCO. Prices shown on this page are a nightly snapshot, not real-time, and nothing here is investment advice.
- Where is Cisco based?
- San Jose, United States, per the company record in this catalog.
- Who else makes scale-out switch ASICs for AI data centers?
- Broadcom, Marvell, Nvidia and Huawei are also placed on Scale-out switch ASICs in this catalog.
- How well sourced are these placements?
- Every part→company placement carries a confidence tag. For Cisco the mix is 5 inferred. "disclosed" means the company or a filing says so; "reported" comes from trade press or a reference-design list; "inferred" is a lead from the taxonomy with no citation yet. Treat reported and inferred as leads, not facts.
Answers are generated from this catalog's own rows — see sources & method.
Verification: enriched, last verified 2026-08-27. Sources: investor.cisco.com · www.cisco.com.· Markdown · JSON