Why Cisco’s AI Announcement Failed to Impress the Market

This week, Cisco executives worked overtime to convince investors that their shares were a strong AI play, but their efforts fell flat.

At the Cisco Live annual conference in Las Vegas, the company announced a $1 billion AI investment fund with initial investments in Cohere, Mistral AI, and Scale AI. They also unveiled a technology partnership with Nvidia to launch a new AI infrastructure line, the Nexus HyperFabric AI Cluster.

On the surface, it seemed like Cisco was vying for attention in the overheated AI space. These announcements appeared to be public relations and investor relations moves aimed at attracting more investors to Cisco stock amidst the AI frenzy.

However, it didn’t work. Cisco’s shares barely moved during its biggest marketing event of the year. This likely did not go unnoticed by the Cisco board of directors and its investors.