Cisco Job Cuts
Cisco Lays Off 471 Workers in California's Bay Area Amid Broader Tech Cuts
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Cisco plans to cut 471 workers across three Bay Area offices, with terminations set to take effect on July 13, 2026, according to The Los Angeles Times. The company filed formal layoff notices with California's Employment Development Department, confirming the cuts in San Jose, Milpitas, and San Francisco.
The move is part of a broader global restructuring announced in May, targeting fewer than 4,000 jobs — roughly 5% of Cisco's total workforce — even as the company reported record quarterly revenue of $15.8 billion, according to Fox Business.
Which Bay Area Offices Are Hit Hardest
San Jose bears the biggest blow, with 236 workers set to lose their jobs at Cisco's 170 West Tasman Drive campus, according to CRN. Milpitas follows with 154 cuts at 560 McCarthy Boulevard. San Francisco's office at 500 Terry A. Francois Boulevard loses 81 positions.
Software engineers make up the single largest group affected, with 56 roles eliminated in this round, per People Matters. Product management and business operations staff are also heavily impacted. Cisco's Deputy General Counsel confirmed in the WARN filings that the layoffs are "expected to be permanent."
Cisco Cuts Jobs While Posting Record Revenue
CEO Chuck Robbins framed the cuts as a strategic choice, not a financial crisis. "The companies that will win in the AI era will be those with focus, urgency, and the discipline to continuously shift investment," Robbins said, according to Cisco Blogs. "This means making hard decisions."
CFO Mark Patterson went further, saying "this was really not a savings-driven restructure" but rather a shift of resources toward "silicon, optics, security and AI," according to CFO Dive. Cisco expects $9 billion in annual AI infrastructure orders for fiscal 2026. The company also expects up to $1 billion in pre-tax charges for severance costs.
Cisco's Third Major Layoff Round in Three Years
This is not Cisco's first large-scale cut. The company eliminated 4,100 jobs in November 2023 and 5,600 more in September 2024, according to SimpleSeverance. That makes this the third major restructuring in under three years — a pattern critics say contradicts the company's framing of the cuts as a one-time pivot.
Cisco stock jumped roughly 20% in after-hours trading following the May announcement, per Fox Business. Investors rewarded the efficiency play. But workers on forums like TheLayoff.com pushed back, calling AI a "buzzword" used to justify traditional cost-cutting in a high-cost state like California.
Legal Scrutiny Mounts Over WARN Act Compliance
Federal law requires companies to give workers 60 days' notice before mass layoffs. Law firm Strauss Borrelli PLLC is now investigating whether Cisco's "rolling notifications" met that threshold, according to Strauss Borrelli PLLC. Cisco notified employees internally on May 14, with terminations scheduled for July 13 — a gap of about 60 days.
The broader tech industry is shedding jobs at a rapid pace. U.S. tech companies announced 123,653 job cuts from January through May 2026 — a 66% jump from the same period the year before. Cisco's cuts reflect a wider trend: profitable companies using AI as a reason to reshape — and shrink — their workforces.
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