Cisco Systems heads AI hardware stocks with US$63.3b segment

AI infrastructure spending is a force now visible to central bankers, who talk openly about higher interest rates as that spending absorbs capital. Within that backdrop, Cisco Systems is presented as a way to own the switches and optical links that connect AI compute clusters, even though those products sit inside a much wider Computer Networks segment worth about US$63.3b in revenue.

The piece also notes Cisco's market value near US$433.1b and quotes a view that Cisco is increasingly positioned as a critical enabler of AI workloads, particularly in networking and data center interconnect, with strong demand from hyperscalers driving networking revenue and orders.

Beyond Cisco, the screen includes Lumentum Holdings, a photonics specialist whose high-speed optical modules link cloud and AI data centers, with about US$3.0b of revenue and a market value near US$78.8b. Demand from GPU clusters is driving a rapid upgrade cycle to 800G and 1.6T optics, and future pricing and profitability across Lumentum's AI-linked portfolio depends on an unseen pressure. The full screen surfaced 22 more companies beyond the three covered here.