filings.toolsCisco Systems 10-K 2026-07-25
Filed 2026-09-02. 24 sections, 505K characters. Original on sec.gov · Markdown · JSON
Cover and table of contents
UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549
FORM 10-K
(Mark One)
| ☒ | ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
For the fiscal year ended July 25, 2026
or
| ☐ | TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 For the transition period from ____ to ____ |
Commission file number 001-39940
CISCO SYSTEMS, INC.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
| Delaware | 77-0059951 | ||||||||||
| (State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) | (IRS Employer Identification No.) | ||||||||||
| 170 West Tasman Drive | 95134-1706 | ||||||||||
| San Jose, | California | ||||||||||
| (Address of principal executive offices) | (Zip Code) |
Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (408) 526-4000
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
| Title of each class: | Trading Symbol(s) | Name of each exchange on which registered | ||||||
| Common Stock, par value $0.001 per share | CSCO | The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC |
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. ☒ Yes ☐ No
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. ☐ Yes ☒ No
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. ☒ Yes ☐ No
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). ☒ Yes ☐ No
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
| Large accelerated filer | ☒ | Accelerated filer | ☐ | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Non-accelerated filer | ☐ | Smaller reporting company | ☐ | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Emerging growth company | ☐ |
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☒
If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant’s executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to §240.10D-1(b). ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). ☐ Yes ☒ No
Aggregate market value of registrant’s common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant, based upon the closing price of a share of the registrant’s common stock on January 23, 2026 as reported by the Nasdaq Global Select Market on that date: $294.5 billion
Number of shares of the registrant’s common stock outstanding as of August 27, 2026: 3,942,586,873
DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE
Portions of the registrant’s definitive Proxy Statement relating to the 2026 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, to be held on December 15, 2026, are incorporated by reference into Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K where indicated.
This Annual Report on Form 10-K, including the “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” contains forward-looking statements regarding future events and our future results that are subject to the safe harbors created under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). All statements other than statements of historical facts are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations, estimates, forecasts, and projections about the industries in which we operate and the beliefs and assumptions of our management. Words such as “expects,” “anticipates,” “targets,” “goals,” “projects,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “momentum,” “seeks,” “estimates,” “continues,” “endeavors,” “strives,” “may,” variations of such words, and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. In addition, any statements that refer to projections of our future financial performance, our anticipated growth and trends in our businesses, and other characterizations of future events or circumstances are forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned that these forward-looking statements are only predictions and are subject to risks, uncertainties, and assumptions that are difficult to predict, including those identified below, under “Item 1A. Risk Factors,” and elsewhere herein. Therefore, actual results may differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements for any reason.
PART I
Item 1. Business
General
Cisco designs and sells a broad range of technologies including hardware, software, and artificial intelligence (AI) powered digital infrastructure to power, help secure, and draw insights from the Internet. We are incorporating AI into our product portfolios across networking, security, collaboration and observability, as well as integrating our products more tightly together into a platform. We are simplifying how our technology is delivered, managed and optimized and helping customers maximize the business value of their technology investments.
We conduct our business globally and manage our business by geography. Our business is organized into the following three geographic segments: Americas; Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA); and Asia Pacific, Japan, and China (APJC).
Our products and technologies are grouped into the following categories: Networking, Security, Collaboration and Observability. In addition to our product offerings, we provide a broad range of services over the lifecycle of our products, including technical support services and professional services. Our customers include businesses of all sizes, public institutions, governments, and service providers, including hyperscalers. These customers often look to us as a strategic partner to help them use technology to differentiate themselves and drive positive business outcomes.
Cisco was incorporated in California in 1984 and reincorporated in Delaware in 2021. Our headquarters are in San Jose, California. The mailing address of our headquarters is 170 West Tasman Drive, San Jose, California 95134-1706, and our telephone number at that location is (408) 526-4000. Our website is www.cisco.com. Through a link on the Investor Relations section of our website, we make available the following filings as soon as reasonably practicable after they are electronically filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) at sec.gov: our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and any amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act. All such filings are available free of charge. The information published on our website, or any other website referenced herein, is not incorporated into this report.
Available Information
We intend to announce material information to the public through our Investor Relations website at https://investor.cisco.com, SEC filings, press releases, public conference calls, and public webcasts, including those made available or broadcast on our Investor Relations website and through third-party websites, such as our LinkedIn page and YouTube channel. We use these channels, as well as social media (including certain X and LinkedIn accounts held and/or managed by us or our executive officers) and our blog, to communicate with our investors, customers, and the public about us, our products and services, and other matters. It is possible that the information we post on social media and our blog could be deemed to be material information. As such, we encourage investors, the media, and others to follow the channels listed above, including the social media channels listed at the bottom of our Investor Relations website, and to review the information disclosed through such channels.
Strategy and Priorities
In today’s fast-paced world shaped by AI, businesses and organizations globally are deploying technology to pursue their strategic objectives, from accelerating growth to enhancing operational efficiency and fostering innovation. Our strategy is to securely connect everything to make those desired outcomes possible.
Our customers have three key priorities in this dynamic environment: i) to build modern infrastructure; ii) to protect against the cyber threats of today and tomorrow; and iii) to harness the power of AI and data. Cisco is at the forefront of this evolution, developing innovative solutions that leverage advanced AI to deliver more valuable outcomes for our customers.
Modern Infrastructure
As agentic AI and inference workloads fundamentally alter network traffic patterns, our customers are investing in resilient, adaptable infrastructure to quickly respond to market changes and the demands of their own customers. Now more than ever it is crucial for businesses to remain competitive while managing resource constraints. Our customers continue to focus on modernizing their infrastructure with a focus on speed, agility, productivity, innovation and energy efficiency.
Cybersecurity
With the rapid growth in AI, modern applications, hyper-distributed architecture and increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks, cybersecurity is a top priority for customers. Our differentiated security strategy is based on three pillars: moving from point solutions to a platform comprehensively integrated with the infrastructure; infusing security into the fabric of the network; and harnessing the depth and breadth of telemetry data to prevent, detect, and respond to sophisticated attacks at machine speed.
AI and Data
AI represents a generational shift in technology. The rise of AI agents is generating a huge increase in network traffic and driving the need for far greater network connectivity. We provide network infrastructure to power AI training and inference workloads for both hyperscalers and enterprises. We help to scale our customers’ network infrastructure with high-density routers and switches, improved network management, and high-performance optics. We are reinventing data center operations for our customers by simplifying the configuration, monitoring, and maintenance of fabrics, compute, networking and storage.
We can help give customers visibility across the network as well as across their security solutions, applications and business data. With this breadth and scale of data, we can help deliver differentiated insights and context to customers, which in turn drives more informed, proactive decision making and better business results.
These three customer priorities drive our innovation and technology, making them our priorities as well. To help deliver on them, we are bringing together the power of our portfolio, which we refer to as One Cisco, which provides three key outcomes to our customers: i) AI-ready data centers, ii) future-proofed workplaces, and iii) digital resilience.
AI-Ready Data Centers
Cisco is transforming data centers to power AI workloads anywhere. Whether customers need to modernize parts of their existing infrastructure or power new, massive AI workloads, we bring together the networking, silicon, compute, security and observability to power the performance, reliability and security of data centers. Our robust, flexible infrastructure is offered as individual building blocks or in pre-validated, full-stack systems for all workloads. Our high-performance systems are predominantly powered by Cisco Silicon One, a scalable and programmable architecture, covering all AI networking roles and capable of adapting to a wide range of use cases and network infrastructure designs. We fuse security into every layer to protect distributed workloads. We also deliver unified management across both traditional and AI workloads and provide tailored solutions and support through Cisco Services.
Future-Proofed Workplaces
Cisco helps deliver “future-proofed” workplaces, combining networking, security, smart spaces and collaboration to power how people work and serve their customers. This includes environments ranging from factory floors with plant workers and robots, to hospitals with healthcare workers, as well as to social workers and salespeople on the move. For secure campus and branch networking, we connect users and devices securely with a broad, scalable portfolio of solutions with embedded security, assurance and intelligence. No matter how people connect to the network, we have workforce protection that delivers frictionless zero-trust access and layered security, and we provide collaboration devices and software to enable effective collaboration to support productivity. Our smart spaces technology turns network devices into sensors for better intelligence and control of physical spaces, including lights and power. In addition, Cisco Services support customers with workplace planning and modernization.
Digital Resilience
Cisco is a leader in delivering digital resilience across customers’ data centers, workplaces and entire IT environments. By bringing together the power of the network with assurance, observability and security, we help our customers prevent issues and remediate them quickly when they occur. We also provide the visibility and insights our customers need to adapt to new opportunities. Our assurance capabilities, powered by ThousandEyes, are deeply embedded across the Cisco portfolio and help enable seamless connectivity and optimal digital experiences across cloud, Internet, and enterprise networks, for the delivery of applications and services. Our observability solution, Splunk combined with AppDynamics, monitors the entire enterprise to help prevent downtime and improve experiences across networks, infrastructures, and applications. Through our security operations capabilities we deliver threat prevention, detection, investigation, and response for organizations of any size and security maturity. Additionally, Cisco Services deliver AI-powered support and issue resolution and help customers shift from reactive break-fix to proactive and predictive operations for higher uptime and greater resilience.
Cisco enables enterprises and service providers to deliver highly secure connectivity from workplaces to data centers worldwide. Our strength lies in our decades of expertise in helping customers of all sizes and across all industries throughout their technology lifecycle, and in the way we embed and enable AI across our products and services. We deliver the foundational hardware, software and services that every other technology capability is built on, making Cisco the critical infrastructure for the AI era.
For a discussion of the risks associated with our Strategy and Priorities, see “Item 1A. Risk Factors,” including the risk factor entitled “We depend upon the development of new products and services, and enhancements to existing products and services, and if we fail to predict and respond to emerging technological trends and customers’ changing needs, our results of operations and market share may suffer.” For information regarding sales of our major products and services, see Note 18 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.
Products and Services
Our products and services are grouped into the following categories:
Networking
Our networking business is built on a foundation of industry-leading technologies, including switching, routing, wireless, and servers, offered through a comprehensive suite of both hardware and software solutions. This portfolio, which features integrated systems built on Cisco Silicon along with software licenses and software-as-a-service (SaaS) offerings, empowers customers to build, secure, automate, modernize, and transform their network infrastructure to meet the demands of a rapidly evolving digital landscape. The portfolio also includes Acacia Optics, whose high-speed coherent optical interconnect technologies enhance Cisco’s networking solutions by enabling scalable, energy-efficient, and simplified optical connectivity that supports the shift from chassis-based systems to pluggable coherent optics. A central pillar of our networking strategy is the convergence of our on-premises solutions with our cloud-managed offerings. By integrating these capabilities across our networking portfolio, we aim to deliver continuous value to our customers through enhanced flexibility, scalability, and operational efficiency. This unified approach positions us to address the diverse needs of businesses as they transition to hybrid and cloud-first environments.
Our switching portfolio encompasses campus switching as well as data center switching. Our switches offer enhanced security and reliability and are designed to scale efficiently as our customers grow. Our campus switching offerings provide the foundation for converged data, voice, video, and Internet of Things (IoT) services, while also supporting new requirements from the rise of AI agents in customer networks. Within campus switching, our Cisco 9000 family of switches includes hardware with embedded software, along with a Unified Networking Experience (UNX) software subscription. Cisco software provides automation, analytics and security features which can be centrally monitored, managed, and configured. Our Campus Switches can also be managed from the cloud through Cisco Cloud Control, offering a powerful combination of rich enterprise features with ease of management. Our switching portfolio includes next-generation Cisco Smart Switches — Cisco 9350, Cisco 9610, and the new Cisco 9550 — built on Silicon One, our single, unified, scalable networking silicon architecture. These switches are AI-ready with advanced telemetry and assurance capabilities, equipped with quantum-resistant security and post-quantum cryptography to protect against future threats.
Our data center switching offerings, led by the Nexus 9000 series, provide the foundation for mission-critical data centers, delivering high availability, scalability, and security across hybrid environments. Central to this portfolio is the integration of Cisco Silicon One architecture, establishing a unified silicon foundation that delivers high performance and energy efficiency. Under our Nexus One strategy, we deliver a unified on-premises and cloud-managed operational experience. This unification, enabled by common underlying hardware and a single, simplified business model, gives customers broad flexibility in how they deploy and manage their networks. Our Cisco N9300 Series Smart Switches offers intelligent networking silicon alongside
embedded Data Processing Units (DPUs), representing our new vision for AI data center designs. Complex data processing tasks can be offloaded to the DPUs on the switch to improve both network architecture and security posture. We integrated these switches with Cisco Hypershield, our cloud-native and AI-powered solution for highly distributed security built into the fabric of the network, converging networking and security into a single offering. We also introduced our Cisco 800G optics, designed to support high-density switch ports to deliver scalable, high-performance networking optimized for AI workloads across data centers and edge environments.
Our service provider routing portfolio includes AI Infrastructure solutions for service provider customers, including our hyperscaler customers. We are focused on transforming connectivity to the Internet and the cloud environment by efficiently meeting the growing demand for low-latency and higher speeds. Our routed optical networking systems and our pluggable optic solutions allow us to transform the economics of building and operating networks for our service provider customers. Our Cisco 8000 series routers, which are based on Cisco Silicon One, provide broad capacity in high-density designs, allowing our customers to reduce operational footprints, lower carbon emissions, and transition to more efficient network architectures.
We also have enterprise routing solutions which interconnect public and private wireline and mobile networks, delivering highly secure and reliable connectivity to campus, data center and branch networks. These offerings are designed to meet the scale, reliability, and security needs of customers of any size.
Our wireless solutions deliver robust indoor and outdoor coverage, supporting seamless roaming for voice, video, and data applications. With a product portfolio that includes both on-premises and cloud-managed wireless access points and controllers, we provide customers with a powerful and intuitive converged access solution when paired with our switching portfolio.
Our networking portfolio also extends to Industrial IoT, providing ruggedized switching and routing solutions designed to maintain connectivity and security in harsh, mission-critical industrial environments. These solutions help to ensure that operational technology (OT) is as secure and manageable as traditional IT infrastructure.
Security
Security is at the core of our business strategy, reflecting our commitment to address the evolving needs of organizations of every size across every industry. Our security portfolio spans Network Security, Identity and Access Management, Secure Access Service Edge (SASE), and Identity and Agentic Security solutions. We are dedicated to continuous innovation, with significant investments in cloud-based security, AI-driven threat detection, and end-to-end security architectures designed to help customers proactively safeguard their most critical assets. Our Extended Detection and Response (XDR) offering is a unified and highly effective solution to help prevent, detect, and respond to sophisticated cyber threats. Our SASE architecture delivers a seamless combination of network and security functionality through a single, cloud-native platform. Our security offerings also include Cisco Hypershield and AI Defense. Cisco Hypershield is our cloud-native and AI-powered solution for highly distributed security built into the fabric of the network, converging networking and security into a single offering. AI Defense leverages machine learning and advanced analytics to proactively identify, analyze, and neutralize cyber threats in real-time, thereby strengthening the security posture of digital networks and data. Our security strategy positions us well to capture growing market demand for comprehensive, scalable, and integrated security solutions.
Collaboration
Our Collaboration portfolio consists of our Webex Suite, Collaboration Devices, Contact Center and Communication Platform as a Service (CPaaS) offerings. These offerings consist of software, including perpetual licenses and subscription arrangements, as well as hardware. Our objective is to create more inclusive and engaging employee and customer experiences by providing technology that enables distributed teams to collaborate effortlessly. We offer end-to-end collaboration solutions that can be delivered on-premises, from the cloud, or within hybrid cloud environments. AI and machine learning capabilities are embedded across the Webex portfolio to help improve productivity. Our CPaaS offering is a cloud communications platform that integrates communication channels and existing back-end business systems to help enable the orchestration and automation of all customer and employee interactions.
Observability
Observability consists of our observability suite and network assurance offerings. Our unified observability offerings connect insights across AI agents, applications, infrastructure, networks and digital experience to help improve service resilience, which is especially important in the AI era with concerns around “tokenomics.” Splunk Observability correlates telemetry and business context across traditional cloud-native and AI environments to connect service health and customer experience issues to causes and business impact and enable timely action. Its agent observability capabilities add continuous evaluation and insight into AI agent behavior, quality, performance and cost. ThousandEyes, our network assurance offering, extends the system beyond customers’ owned environments, adding network assurance and intelligence across enterprise, Internet and cloud networks to show how connectivity affects application performance, digital experience, service quality and resilience.
Services
In addition to our product offerings, we provide a comprehensive portfolio of technical support and professional services designed to help customers enhance the business value of their technology investments. Central to our services strategy is Cisco IQ, a unified digital interface that serves as the primary delivery vehicle for Cisco Support and Professional Services. By integrating AI and automation, Cisco IQ equips customers with landscape clarity, proactive resilience, rapid resolution, and highly contextualized professional services.
Cisco Technical Support provides robust assistance including software support, hardware replacement, and accelerated issue resolution to ensure that our customers’ products and networks operate efficiently and remain highly available. These offerings are critical for helping customers protect their infrastructure investments, manage operational risk and minimize downtime for systems running mission-critical applications.
Complementing our support capabilities, our professional services portfolio encompasses planning, design, implementation and high-value consulting, aimed at aligning technology deployments with strategic business outcomes. We continually invest in the modernization of our services by embedding AI-driven insights into Cisco IQ and expanding our expertise beyond core networking to encompass security and analytics, ensuring our customers are well-positioned for resilient, forward-looking digital transformation.
Customers and Markets
Many factors influence the IT, collaboration, and networking requirements of our customers. These include the size of the organization, number and types of technology systems, geographic location, and business applications deployed throughout the customer’s network. Our customer base is not limited to any specific industry, geography, or market segment. Our customers primarily operate in the following markets: enterprise, public sector and service provider and cloud.
Enterprise
Enterprise includes businesses that are large regional, national, or global organizations with multiple locations or branch offices, or mid-market and small businesses. Many enterprise businesses have unique IT, collaboration, and networking needs within a multi-vendor environment. Our mid-market and small business customers typically require the latest advanced technologies, but with less complexity. We offer service and support packages, financing, and managed network services, primarily through our service provider partners. We sell these products through a network of third-party application and technology vendors and channel partners, as well as selling directly to these customers.
Public Sector
Public Sector includes federal, state and local governments, as well as educational institution customers. Many public sector customers have unique IT, collaboration, and networking needs within a multi-vendor environment. We primarily sell to public sector customers through a network of third-party application and technology vendors and channel partners.
Service Provider and Cloud
Service Provider and Cloud includes regional, national, and international wireline carriers and hyperscalers, as well as Internet, cable, and wireless providers. We also include media, broadcast, and content providers within this customer market, as the lines in the telecommunications industry continue to blur between traditional network-based, content-based and application-based services. This customer market offers data, voice, video, and mobile/wireless services to businesses, governments, utilities, and consumers worldwide. Service provider and cloud businesses use a variety of our products and services for their own networks. In addition, many service providers use Cisco data center, virtualization, and collaboration technologies to offer managed or Internet-based services to their business customers. Compared with other customers, service providers are more likely to require network design, deployment, and support services because of the greater scale and higher complexity of their networks, whose requirements are addressed, we believe, by our architectural approach.
Sales Overview
As of the end of fiscal 2026, our worldwide sales and marketing functions consisted of approximately 25,400 employees, including managers, sales representatives, and technical support personnel. We sell our products and services both directly and indirectly through a variety of channels with support from our sales workforce. A substantial portion of our products and services is sold indirectly through channel partners, and the remainder is sold through direct sales. Channel partners include systems integrators, service providers, other third-party resellers, and distributors.
Systems integrators and service providers typically sell directly to end users and often provide system installation, technical support, professional services, and other support services in addition to network equipment sales. Systems integrators also typically integrate our products into an overall solution. Some service providers are also systems integrators.
Distributors may hold inventory and sell to systems integrators, service providers, and other third-party resellers. We refer to sales through distributors as our two-tier system of sales to the end customer. Revenue from two-tier distributors is recognized based on a sell-in method. These distributors may be given business terms that allow them to return a limited portion of inventory, receive credits for changes in selling prices, receive certain rebates, and participate in various cooperative marketing programs.
Our service offerings complement our products through a range of consulting, technical, project, quality, and software maintenance services, including 24-hour online and telephone support through technical assistance centers.
For information regarding risks related to our sales channels, see “Item 1A. Risk Factors,” including the risk factors entitled “Disruption of or changes in our distribution model could harm our sales and margins” and “Inventory management relating to our sales to our two-tier distribution channel is complex, and excess inventory may harm our gross margins.”
For information regarding risks relating to our international operations, see “Item 1A. Risk Factors,” including the risk factors entitled “Our results of operations may be negatively impacted by unfavorable economic and market conditions and the uncertain geopolitical environment;” “Entrance into new or developing markets exposes us to additional competition and will likely increase demands on our service and support operations;” “Due to the global nature of our operations, political or economic changes or other factors in a specific country or region could harm our results of operations or financial condition;” “We are exposed to fluctuations in currency exchange rates that could negatively impact our financial results and cash flows;” and “Cyber attacks, data breaches or other incidents impacting our solutions and IT environment may disrupt our operations, harm our results of operations or financial condition, and damage our reputation or otherwise materially harm our business; and cyber attacks, data breaches or other incidents on our customers’ or third-party providers’ networks, or in third-party products we use, could result in claims of liability against us, give rise to legal and/or regulatory action, damage our reputation or otherwise materially harm our business,” among others.
Financing Arrangements
We provide financing arrangements for certain qualified customers to build, maintain, and upgrade their networks. Cisco Capital, our financing arm, helps customers acquire the technology they need to achieve their business objectives and stay competitive. Cisco Capital financing provides flexibility in acquiring hardware, software, services, and complementary third-party equipment. We believe customer financing is a competitive advantage in obtaining business and enabling sales, particularly for those customers involved in significant infrastructure projects. Our financing arrangements include loans, leases (sales-type, direct financing and operating) and channel financing arrangements.
Acquisitions, Investments, and Alliances
The markets in which we compete require a wide variety of technologies, products, and capabilities. We continue to evaluate opportunities to acquire and invest in businesses and technologies that complement and enable further investment in our key priority areas.
Acquisitions
We acquire companies in order to gain access to talent, technology, products and features, operational capabilities or new markets. The risks associated with acquisitions are more fully discussed in “Item 1A. Risk Factors,” including the risk factor entitled “We have made and expect to continue to make acquisitions that could disrupt our operations and harm our results of operations.”
Investments in Privately Held Companies
We make investments in privately held companies that develop technology or provide services that are complementary to our products or that provide insights into emerging technologies that may become relevant to our businesses. The risks associated with these investments are more fully discussed in “Item 1A. Risk Factors,” including the risk factor entitled “We are exposed to fluctuations in the market values of our portfolio investments and in interest rates; impairment of our investments could harm our earnings.”
Strategic Alliances
We pursue strategic alliances with other companies in areas where collaboration can produce industry advancement and accelerate new markets. The objectives and goals of a strategic alliance can include one or more of the following: technology exchange, product development, joint sales and marketing, or new market creation.
The risks associated with our strategic alliances are more fully discussed in “Item 1A. Risk Factors,” including the risk factor entitled “If we do not successfully manage our strategic alliances, we may not realize the expected benefits from such alliances, and we may experience increased competition or delays in product development.”
Competition
We compete in the networking and communications equipment markets, providing products and services designed to transport, and help secure data, voice, and video traffic across cloud, private and public networks and the Internet. We compete with numerous vendors in each product category. The overall number of our competitors providing niche product solutions may increase. Also, the identity and composition of competitors may change as we increase our activity in newer product areas, and in key priority areas. As we continue to expand globally, we may see new competition in different geographic regions. In particular, we have experienced price-focused competition from competitors in Asia, especially from China, and we anticipate this will continue.
Our competitors (in each case relative to only some of our products or services) include: Amazon Web Services LLC; Arista Networks, Inc.; Broadcom Inc.; Ciena Corporation; CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc.; Datadog Inc.; Dell Technologies Inc.; Dynatrace Inc.; Fortinet, Inc.; Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company; Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.; Microsoft Corporation; Nokia Corporation; Nvidia Corporation; Palo Alto Networks, Inc.; RingCentral, Inc.; Zoom Video Communications, Inc.; and Zscaler, Inc.; among others.
Some of our competitors compete across many of our product lines, while others are primarily focused in a specific product area. Barriers to entry are relatively low, and new ventures to create products that do or could compete with our products are regularly formed. In addition, some of our competitors may have greater resources, including technical and engineering resources, than we do. As we expand into new markets, we will face competition not only from our existing competitors but also from other competitors, including existing companies with strong technological, marketing, and sales positions in those markets. We also sometimes face competition from resellers and distributors of our products. Companies with which we have strategic alliances in some areas may be competitors in other areas, and this trend may increase. For example, the enterprise data center is undergoing a fundamental transformation arising from the convergence of technologies, including computing, networking, storage, and software, that previously were segregated. Additionally, companies that are strategic alliance partners in some areas of our business may acquire or form alliances with our competitors, thereby reducing their business with us.
The principal competitive factors in the markets in which we presently compete and may compete in the future include the ability to sell successful business outcomes; the ability to provide a broad range of networking and communications products and services; product performance; price; the ability to introduce new products, including providing continuous new customer value and products with price-performance advantages; the ability to reduce production costs; the ability to provide value-added features such as security, reliability, and investment protection; conformance to standards; market presence; the ability to provide financing; and disruptive technology shifts and new business models.
We also face competition from customers to which we license or supply technology and suppliers from which we transfer technology. The inherent nature of networking requires interoperability. As such, we must cooperate and, at the same time, compete with many companies. Any inability to effectively manage these complicated relationships with customers, suppliers, and strategic alliance partners could materially harm our business, results of operations, and financial condition and accordingly affect our chances of success.
Research and Development
We regularly introduce new products and features to address the requirements of our markets. We allocate our research and development budget among our product categories, which consist of Networking, Security, Collaboration, and Observability technologies. Our research and development expenditures are applied generally to all product areas, with specific areas of focus being identified from time to time. Our expenditures for research and development costs were expensed as incurred.
The industry in which we compete is subject to rapid technological developments, evolving standards, changes in customer requirements, and new product introductions and enhancements. As a result, our success depends, in part, on our ability, on a cost-effective and timely basis, to continue to enhance our existing products and to develop and introduce new products that improve performance and reduce total cost of ownership. To achieve these objectives, our management and engineering personnel work with customers to identify and respond to customer needs, as well as with other innovators of Internet networking products, including universities, laboratories, and corporations. We also expect to continue to make acquisitions and strategic investments, where appropriate, to provide us with access to new technologies. Nonetheless, there can be no assurance that we will be able to successfully develop products to address new customer requirements and technological changes or that those products will achieve market acceptance.
Manufacturing
We rely on contract manufacturers for our manufacturing needs. We presently use a variety of independent third-party companies to provide services related to printed-circuit board assembly, in-circuit test, product repair, and product assembly. Proprietary software in electronically programmable memory chips is used to configure products that meet customer requirements and to maintain quality control and security. The manufacturing process enables us to configure the hardware and software in unique combinations to meet a wide variety of individual customer requirements. The manufacturing process also uses automated testing equipment and burn-in procedures, as well as comprehensive inspection, testing, and statistical process controls, which are designed to help ensure the quality and reliability of our products. The manufacturing processes and procedures are generally certified to International Organization for Standardization 9001 standards.
Our arrangements with contract manufacturers generally provide for quality, cost, and delivery requirements, as well as manufacturing process terms, such as inventory management; flexibility regarding capacity, quality, and cost management; oversight of manufacturing; and conditions for use of our intellectual property. We have not entered into any significant long-term contracts with any contract manufacturers. We generally have the option to renew arrangements on an as-needed basis. These arrangements with contract manufacturers generally do not commit us to purchase any particular amount or any quantities beyond amounts covered by orders or forecasts that we submit covering discrete periods of time.
Patents, Intellectual Property, and Licensing
We seek to establish and maintain our proprietary rights in our technology and products through the use of patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secret laws. We have a program to file applications for and obtain patents, copyrights, and trademarks in the United States and in selected foreign countries where we believe filing for such protection is appropriate. We also seek to maintain our trade secrets and confidential information by nondisclosure policies and through the use of appropriate confidentiality agreements. We have obtained a substantial number of patents and trademarks in the United States and in other countries. There can be no assurance, however, that the rights obtained can be successfully enforced against infringing products in every jurisdiction.
Many of our products are designed to include software or other intellectual property licensed from third parties. While it may be necessary in the future to seek or renew licenses relating to various aspects of our products, we believe, based upon past experience and standard industry practice, that such licenses generally could be obtained on commercially reasonable terms. Nonetheless, there can be no assurance that the necessary licenses would be available on acceptable terms, if at all. Our inability to obtain certain licenses or other rights or to obtain such licenses or rights on favorable terms, or the need to engage in litigation regarding these matters, could materially harm our business, results of operations, and financial condition. Moreover, inclusion in our products of software or other intellectual property licensed from third parties on a nonexclusive basis can limit our ability to protect our proprietary rights in our products.
The industry in which we compete is characterized by rapidly changing technology, a large number of patents, and frequent claims and related litigation regarding patent and other intellectual property rights. There can be no assurance that our patents and other proprietary rights will not be challenged, invalidated, or circumvented; that others will not assert intellectual property rights to technologies that are relevant to us; or that our rights will give us a competitive advantage. Further, some U.S. governmental entities and courts have expressed a position that U.S. copyright and patent protection should be limited to protecting inventions and works of authorship created by humans. Therefore, U.S. copyright or patent protection for inventions or works developed in part or wholly by generative AI tools may be limited, or not available at all. In addition, the laws of some foreign countries may not protect our proprietary rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States.
The risks associated with patents and intellectual property are more fully discussed in “Item 1A. Risk Factors,” including the risk factors entitled “Our proprietary rights may prove difficult to enforce,” “We may be found to infringe on intellectual property rights of others,” and “We rely on the availability of third-party licenses.”
Government Regulation
We are subject to numerous regulations and laws in the United States and abroad that involve matters central to our business. Many of these regulations and laws are evolving and their applicability and scope, as interpreted by courts and regulators, remain uncertain. These regulations and laws involve a variety of matters including privacy, data protection and personal information, cybersecurity, operational resilience, AI, tax, trade, encryption technology, environmental sustainability (including climate change), human rights, product certification, and national security.
A failure, or alleged failure, by us to comply with regulations or laws could materially harm our business, results of operations, or financial condition. For additional information about government regulation and laws applicable to our business, see “Item 1A. Risk Factors,” including the risk factor entitled “Our business, results of operations, or financial condition could be materially harmed by evolving regulatory uncertainty or obligations applicable to our products and services” and Note 13 to the Consolidated Financial Statements, subsection (f) “Legal Proceedings.”
Talent and Culture
At Cisco, we value our people and our technology, and we leverage our broader ecosystems to positively impact the world and pursue our Purpose to Power an Inclusive Future for All. Our goal is to attract, retain, and develop talent in order to help our customers connect and secure their infrastructure and accelerate their digital agility. Our relationship with our employees is one of mutual benefit. Our employees bring talent and ingenuity to everything we do, and in turn, we provide employees with meaningful careers and development opportunities.
Cisco is currently ranked #3 on the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For® 2026 in the United States. Fortune and Great Place to Work have published their United States rankings since 1998, and Cisco has been recognized on every annual list. In fiscal 2026, Cisco was recognized as a top three workplace in 24 countries by Great Place To Work®, including #1 wins in Costa Rica, Italy, Indonesia, Ireland, Malaysia, Peru, Singapore, and Taiwan.
As of July 25, 2026, we had approximately 82,400 employees and they are categorized as follows:
Compensation and Benefits
Our total compensation philosophy is designed to attract, reward, and retain talent. It provides market competitive, performance-based compensation aligned with each employee’s contribution and impact to the value we drive to our customers, partners, and stockholders. We reward and recognize our employees for effecting innovation, collaboration, profitability, and growth within our geographies, product lines, and functions.
Health & Well-being
We have an ongoing commitment to focus on the health, safety, and well-being of our employees. We seek to provide our employees and their families with high-quality, flexible, and convenient benefits and resources for their physical, mental, and financial well-being. We strive to support our employees as they balance careers and personal lives, as well as their own physical, emotional, and financial health. We continue to emphasize a focus on both physical and mental health, recognizing the need to create an environment where employees can speak openly about mental health and other matters.
We offer mindfulness courses, employee assistance program offerings, and out-of-network provider benefits for substance abuse and mental health treatment, and more. In fiscal 2026, we continued to offer employees “A Day for Me,” which were paid days off that allowed for each individual to recharge and rest. We employ a hybrid work model in certain countries, giving our employees the flexibility to work offsite or at onsite Cisco locations.
Employee Development and Engagement
Cisco is advancing new approaches to leading, learning, and working in the age of AI. We invest in developing strategic capabilities that drive business growth, while enabling employees’ personal and professional development. By aligning skilling with our Guiding Principles and business priorities, we put learning at the center of innovation.
Recognizing that each career is unique, we provide personalized learning opportunities in multiple formats that fit into employees’ daily work. We are also unifying our leadership development approach to offer a full range of programs for employees at all levels, reflecting our belief that you lead from every seat. The principle of “one company, many careers” guides us, and we are using data insights from skills intelligence to match people and opportunities. Learning and development are reinforced in our performance processes. Success at Cisco depends on both what is achieved and how it is achieved, with leaders supporting ongoing development through regular feedback and check-ins.
We believe that strong communication is key in our Conscious Culture. These communications include the Cisco Beat, which are regular all-hands meetings, and Cisco Check-Ins, which are ad-hoc meetings for important conversations. Employees also participate in our global Engagement Pulse Survey and the Real Deal Survey. These surveys allow our employees to provide confidential feedback on our culture, company strategy and trust in their direct leaders.
Information about our Executive Officers
The following table shows the name, age, and position as of August 31, 2026 of each of our executive officers:
| Name | Age | Position with the Company | ||||||||||||
| Charles H. Robbins | 60 | Chair and Chief Executive Officer | ||||||||||||
| Mark Patterson | 56 | Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer | ||||||||||||
| Jeetendra Patel | 55 | President, Chief Product Officer | ||||||||||||
| Deborah L. Stahlkopf | 56 | Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer | ||||||||||||
| Thimaya Subaiya | 48 | Executive Vice President, Operations | ||||||||||||
| Oliver Tuszik | 58 | Executive Vice President, Global Sales and Chief Sales Officer | ||||||||||||
Mr. Robbins serves as our Chief Executive Officer since July 2015, as a member of the Board of Directors since May 2015, and as Chair of the Board since December 2017. Mr. Robbins joined Cisco in December 1997, from which time until March 2002 he held a number of managerial positions within Cisco’s sales organization. Mr. Robbins was promoted to Vice President in March 2002, assuming leadership of Cisco’s U.S. channel sales organization. Additionally, in July 2005, Mr. Robbins assumed leadership of Cisco’s Canada channel sales organization. In December 2007, Mr. Robbins was promoted to Senior Vice President, U.S. Commercial, and, in August 2009 he was appointed Senior Vice President, U.S. Enterprise, Commercial and Canada. In July 2011, Mr. Robbins was named Senior Vice President, Americas. In October 2012, Mr. Robbins was promoted to Senior Vice President, Worldwide Field Operations, in which position he served until assuming the role of Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Robbins is also a member of the board of directors of BlackRock, Inc. (since 2017).
Mr. Patterson joined Cisco in September 2000 and serves as our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer since July 2025. Previously, Mr. Patterson served as Cisco’s Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer from March 2024 to July 2025, as Senior Vice President, Chief of Staff to the Chair and CEO from October 2018 to March 2024, as Senior Vice President, Strategy, Planning, and Operations for Worldwide Sales and Marketing from July 2015 to October 2018, and in various other leadership and finance roles at Cisco since 2000.
Mr. Patel joined Cisco in July 2020 and serves as our President and Chief Product Officer since May 2025. Previously, Mr. Patel served as Cisco’s Executive Vice President and Chief Product Officer from August 2024 to May 2025, as Executive Vice President and General Manager, Security and Collaboration from June 2021 to August 2024, and as Senior Vice President and General Manager, Security and Collaboration from July 2020 to June 2021. Prior to joining Cisco, Mr. Patel served as the Chief Product Officer and Chief Strategy Officer at Box, Inc. (“Box”) from September 2017 to July 2020, and as Senior Vice President of Platform and Chief Strategy Officer from August 2015 to September 2017. Prior to joining Box, Mr. Patel served as General Manager and Chief Executive of the Syncplicity business unit of EMC Corporation (now part of Dell Technologies Inc.). Mr. Patel is a member of the board of directors of Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated (since 2019).
Ms. Stahlkopf joined Cisco in August 2021 and serves as our Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer. Prior to joining Cisco, Ms. Stahlkopf spent 14 years at Microsoft, where she served most recently as Corporate Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, Corporate, External and Legal Affairs from April 2018 to July 2021. Ms. Stahlkopf also served in other leadership roles at Microsoft, including as Vice President and Deputy General Counsel from December 2015 to April 2018 and as Associate General Counsel from December 2010 to December 2015. Prior to joining Microsoft, Ms. Stahlkopf practiced law at Perkins Coie LLP and Cooley Godward LLP. Ms. Stahlkopf is a member of the board of directors of NextEra Energy, Inc. (since 2023).
Mr. Subaiya joined Cisco in July 2018 and serves as our Executive Vice President of Operations since March 2024. Previously, Mr. Subaiya served as Cisco’s Senior Vice President, Chief Transformation Officer from March 2023 to March 2024, as Senior Vice President and General Manager, Customer Experience from November 2021 to March 2023, and as Senior Vice President, Customer Experience Operations and Renewals from July 2018 to November 2021. Prior to joining Cisco, Mr. Subaiya spent 8 years at Salesforce, Inc. (“Salesforce”) where he served in a variety of leadership roles, including most recently as its Chief Operating Officer of Customer Success. Before joining Salesforce, Mr. Subaiya held various leadership roles in business development and global planning and strategy at Oracle Corporation. Mr. Subaiya is a member of the board of directors of Genpact Limited (since 2025).
Mr. Tuszik joined Cisco in July 2013 and serves as our Executive Vice President of Global Sales and Chief Sales Officer since April 2025. Previously, Mr. Tuszik served as Cisco’s Senior Vice President, EMEA Sales from August 2023 to April 2025, as Senior Vice President, Global Partner and GM Routes to Market Sales from December 2020 to August 2023, as Senior Vice President, Worldwide Partner Organization from July 2018 to December 2020, and as Vice President, Country Leader Germany from July 2013 to July 2018. Prior to joining Cisco, Mr. Tuszik spent over 10 years at Computacenter AG & Co. oHG, most recently serving as Chief Executive Officer Germany.
Item 1A. Risk Factors
Set forth below and elsewhere in this report and in other documents we file with the SEC are descriptions of the risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from the results contemplated by the forward-looking statements contained in this report.
Risks Related to our Business and Industry
Our operations can be difficult to predict because our results of operations may fluctuate in future periods.
Our results of operations have been in the past, and will continue to be, subject to quarterly and annual fluctuations as a result of numerous factors, some of which may contribute to more pronounced fluctuations in an uncertain global economic environment. Consequently, our results of operations are not a reliable indicator of future results. These factors include:
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Customer patterns, such as fluctuating demand for our products and services, especially with respect to service providers and cloud customers; the timing, size, and mix of orders from customers; and changes in sales and implementation cycles for our products and reduced visibility into our customers’ spending plans and associated revenue
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Our ability to maintain appropriate inventory levels and purchase commitments and manage manufacturing and customer lead times
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Price and product competition in the communications and networking industries, which can change rapidly due to technological innovation and different business models from various geographic regions
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Industry trends such as consolidation among our competitors and our customers, and the introduction and market acceptance of new technologies, products and technology standards, and our success in these new and evolving markets and with emerging technologies, including AI
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Variations in sales channels, product costs, or mix of products sold (e.g., hardware and software sales, including mix of cloud-based and on-premise software sales)
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Fluctuations in our gross margins, and the factors that contribute to such fluctuations
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The ability of our direct sale customers, channel partners, contract manufacturers and suppliers to obtain financing, to fund capital expenditures, or withstand financial problems
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Actual events, circumstances, outcomes, and amounts differing from judgments, assumptions, and estimates used in determining the values of certain assets (including the amounts of related valuation allowances), liabilities, and other items reflected in our Consolidated Financial Statements
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How well we execute on our strategy and operating plans and the impact of changes in our business model that could result in significant restructuring charges
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Our ability to achieve targeted cost reductions and anticipated benefits from our investments
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Changes in tax laws or accounting rules, or interpretations thereof
Any of these factors, or others discussed in this report, could materially harm our business, results of operations, or financial condition.
Our results of operations may be negatively impacted by unfavorable economic and market conditions and the uncertain geopolitical environment.
The global macroeconomic environment can be challenging and uncertain. Challenging global economic conditions, including tariffs or other trade barriers or disruptions, rising inflation, or other changes, have contributed, and may continue to contribute, to slowdowns in the markets in which we operate, resulting in: reduced demand for our products due to constrained IT-related spending by customers, particularly service provider, cloud, enterprise and other customer markets; increased price competition for our products, not only from our competitors but also as a consequence of customers disposing of unutilized products; risk of excess and obsolete inventories; risk of supply constraints; risk of excess facilities and manufacturing capacity; and higher overhead costs as a percentage of revenue and higher interest expense.
Furthermore, the impact of uncertainty regarding global central bank monetary policy, the instability in the geopolitical environment in many parts of the world (including as a result of the ongoing Russia and Ukraine war, Middle East conflicts and wars, and China-Taiwan relations), government-related disruptions or shutdowns, and other disruptions may continue to put pressure on global economic conditions.
Economic conditions specific to one or more segments or customer markets may also affect our results of operations in those segments. If global economic and market conditions were to deteriorate, we may experience material harm to our business, results of operations, or financial condition.
Our revenue for a particular period is difficult to predict, and a shortfall in revenue may harm our results of operations.
Our quarterly revenue is difficult to predict, which can be exacerbated during challenging global macroenvironments and resulting market uncertainty. As in prior periods, we may experience a decline or slower revenue growth rate on a year-over-year basis. Our ability to meet financial expectations could also be negatively impacted if nonlinear sales or shipping patterns seen in prior quarters occur again in future periods. Nonlinear shipping patterns have occurred when shipments have exceeded net bookings or manufacturing or other issues have delayed shipments, making it difficult to predict revenue for a particular period. Furthermore, nonlinear or irregular shipping patterns can increase costs, due to resulting periods of underutilized capacity, overtime expenses, and potential additional inventory management-related costs. In addition, delayed shipments arising from manufacturing, component shortages, or any other issues, particularly in periods in which our contract manufacturers are operating at higher levels of capacity, could negatively impact revenue for a quarter if such matters occur and are not remediated within the same quarter.
The timing of large orders can also have a significant impact on our business and results of operations from quarter to quarter. From time to time, we receive large orders that have a significant effect on our results of operations in the period in which the order is recognized as revenue. The timing of such orders is difficult to predict, and the timing of revenue recognition from such orders may affect period to period changes in revenue. As a result, our results of operations could vary materially from quarter to quarter based on the receipt of such orders and their ultimate recognition as revenue. Additionally, longer than normal manufacturing lead times in the past have caused, and in the future could cause, some customers to place multiple orders within our various sales channels and to cancel the duplicative orders upon shipment or receipt of the product, or to also place orders with other vendors with shorter manufacturing lead times. Such multiple ordering (along with other factors) or risk of order cancellation may cause difficulty in predicting our revenue. Further, our efforts to improve manufacturing lead-time performance may result in more variability and less predictability in our revenue and results of operations. In addition, when managing component supply-related challenges, we have in the past, and may in the future, increase efforts in procuring components to meet customer expectations, which in turn contributes to an increase in inventory and purchase commitments. Product demand conditions for future periods can be difficult to predict or may persist longer than anticipated. Because we plan our operating expenses primarily based on forecasted revenue levels and these costs and the impact of long term commitments are relatively fixed in the short term, a revenue shortfall from short term business changes or otherwise, may prevent us from adjusting these fixed expenses quickly enough to meet financial expectations. Any of the above factors could materially harm our operations and financial res
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Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments
None.
Item 1C. Cybersecurity
We recognize the critical importance of maintaining the trust and confidence of our customers, employees, and other stakeholders. To help mitigate the cybersecurity risks that we face, we maintain processes for identifying, assessing, and managing such risks.
Our incident response functions, which include our Security and Trust Organization (“S&TO”) under the leadership of our Chief Security and Trust Officer, have established internal policies, processes, and procedures to monitor, detect, investigate, respond to, and escalate management of internal and external cybersecurity threats and incidents. We maintain policies and procedures for the escalation of cybersecurity incidents, assessed as potentially being or becoming material, to designated members of our senior management for further assessment. We also, as necessary, inform our independent registered public accounting firm of significant cybersecurity matters and any relevant developments.
To help identify, assess, and mitigate cybersecurity threats that we face to our business, S&TO, in addition to its own capabilities, partners with Cisco’s Talos Threat Intelligence Group and third parties, including governments and peer companies, to share and receive threat intelligence and other information. S&TO actively monitors for and evaluates cybersecurity vulnerabilities, threats, and incidents observable on the Internet and the dark web. In addition to monitoring risks from threats to our own business, we operate third-party risk management programs to help identify and manage risks from cybersecurity threats arising from third-party suppliers and service providers on which we rely. These programs leverage on-going security-focused risk assessments based on industry practices, audits, and contractual requirements.
We strive to embed security into our products and services through the Cisco Secure Development Lifecycle (CSDL). The CSDL introduces security and privacy considerations throughout the lifecycle of our products and services. In addition, S&TO advises business units and functional areas on addressing cybersecurity risks and monitors initiatives to mitigate and manage such risks over time. Our business units or functional areas are responsible for managing risks and ensuring that security policies and standards are implemented within the respective business unit or function. S&TO also conducts mandatory cybersecurity training for our employees and provides employees with tools to report suspected incidents.
S&TO engages third parties in connection with our cybersecurity risk management processes, including cybersecurity consultants and auditors, to conduct evaluations of our IT security controls and provide certifications for industry-standard security frameworks. In addition, we maintain a global privacy program to assess and manage privacy risks related to how we are collecting, using, sharing, and storing personal data, which is subject to assessment by an independent, third-party privacy assessor.
Our Chief Security and Trust Officer, who reports to our Executive Vice President, Operations, works collaboratively across our business to implement policies and procedures designed to protect our IT environment and our products and services from cybersecurity threats, and to promptly respond to cybersecurity incidents in accordance with our incident response policies and procedures. Our Chief Security and Trust Officer has extensive cybersecurity experience and has served in various roles in information technology and information security for over 25 years.
The Chief Security and Trust Officer provides regular reports on the status of cybersecurity risks, priorities, and focus areas to our executive leadership team. In addition, information on cybersecurity risks is further integrated into our broader enterprise risk management program through our internal audit function, which incorporates such information in regular audits of our cybersecurity and data protection controls and processes.
Our Board of Directors oversees risks related to cybersecurity threats to our business directly and through its Audit Committee. The Audit Committee receives regular reports on cybersecurity risks, priorities, and focus areas from our Chief Security and Trust Officer at least four times a year and receives a live presentation at least twice a year. Our Board of Directors also regularly receives updates from the Audit Committee on its oversight activities and, on occasion, receives updates directly from our Chief Security and Trust Officer. Additionally, the Chief Security and Trust Officer provides more frequent updates to the Board of Directors and Audit Committee if necessary due to a cybersecurity threat, incident, or other development.
As of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, we do not believe our business, results of operations, or financial condition have been materially affected by cybersecurity risks, including as a result of previously identified cybersecurity incidents. For more information on our cybersecurity related risks, see “Item 1A. Risk Factors” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Item 2. Properties
Our corporate headquarters are located in San Jose, California, in the United States of America. The locations of our headquarters by geographic segment are as follows:
| Americas | EMEA | APJC | ||||||||||||
| San Jose, California, USA | Amsterdam, Netherlands | Singapore |
In addition to our headquarters site, we own additional sites in the United States, which include facilities in the surrounding areas of San Jose, California; Research Triangle Park, North Carolina; and Richardson, Texas. In addition, we lease office space in many U.S. locations.
Outside the United States our operations are conducted primarily in leased sites. Other significant sites (in addition to the two non-U.S. headquarters locations) are located in Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Germany, India, Israel, Norway, Poland, and the United Kingdom.
We believe that our existing facilities, including both owned and leased, are in good condition and suitable for the conduct of our business.
Item 3. Legal Proceedings
For a description of pending legal proceedings in which we are involved, see Note 13 “Commitments and Contingencies - (f) Legal Proceedings” of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, which is incorporated herein by reference.
Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures
Not applicable.
PART II
Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters, and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
(a)Cisco common stock is traded on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol CSCO. There were 29,241 registered stockholders as of August 27, 2026.
(b)None.
(c)Issuer purchases of equity securities (in millions, except per-share amounts):
| Period | Total Number of Shares Purchased | Average Price Paid per Share | Total Number of Shares Purchased as Part of Publicly Announced Plans or Programs | Approximate Dollar Value of Shares That May Yet Be Purchased Under the Plans or Programs | |||||||||||||||||||
| April 26, 2026 to May 23, 2026 | 4 | $ | 100.11 | 4 | $ | 9,167 | |||||||||||||||||
| May 24, 2026 to June 20, 2026 | 3 | $ | 121.43 | 3 | $ | 8,803 | |||||||||||||||||
| June 21, 2026 to July 25, 2026 | 6 | $ | 114.08 | 6 | $ | 8,068 | |||||||||||||||||
| Total | 13 | $ | 111.53 | 13 |
Amounts may not recalculate due to rounding.
On September 13, 2001, we announced that our Board of Directors had authorized a stock repurchase program. As of July 25, 2026, the remaining authorized amount for stock repurchases under this program is approximately $8.1 billion with no termination date.
For the majority of restricted stock units granted, the number of shares issued on the date the restricted stock units vest is net of shares withheld to meet applicable tax withholding requirements. Although these withheld shares are not issued or considered common stock repurchases under our stock repurchase program and therefore are not included in the preceding table, they are treated as common stock repurchases in our financial statements as they reduce the number of shares that would have been issued upon vesting (see Note 14 to the Consolidated Financial Statements).
Stock Performance Graph
The information contained in this Stock Performance Graph section shall not be deemed to be “soliciting material” or “filed” or incorporated by reference in future filings with the SEC, or subject to the liabilities of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), except to the extent that Cisco specifically incorporates it by reference into a document filed under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Exchange Act.
The following graph shows a five-year comparison of the cumulative total stockholder return on Cisco common stock with the cumulative total returns of the S&P 500 Index, and the S&P Information Technology Index. The graph tracks the performance of a $100 investment in the Company’s common stock and in each of the indexes (with the reinvestment of all dividends) on the date specified. Stockholder returns over the indicated period are based on historical data and should not be considered indicative of future stockholder returns.
Comparison of 5-Year Cumulative Total Return Among Cisco Systems, Inc.,
the S&P 500 Index, and the S&P Information Technology Index
| July 2021 | July 2022 | July 2023 | July 2024 | July 2025 | July 2026 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cisco Systems, Inc. | $ | 100.00 | $ | 84.33 | $ | 99.97 | $ | 94.85 | $ | 139.84 | $ | 237.22 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| S&P 500 | $ | 100.00 | $ | 95.36 | $ | 107.61 | $ | 130.12 | $ | 154.32 | $ | 181.19 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| S&P Information Technology | $ | 100.00 | $ | 94.49 | $ | 119.70 | $ | 159.91 | $ | 199.00 | $ | 253.20 |
Item 6. [Reserved]
Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
Forward-Looking Statements
This Annual Report on Form 10-K, including this Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, contains forward-looking statements regarding future events and our future results that are subject to the safe harbors created under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). All statements other than statements of historical facts are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations, estimates, forecasts, and projections about the industries in which we operate and the beliefs and assumptions of our management. Words such as “expects,” “anticipates,” “targets,” “goals,” “projects,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “momentum,” “seeks,” “estimates,” “continues,” “endeavors,” “strives,” “may,” variations of such words, and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. In addition, any statements that refer to projections of our future financial performance, our anticipated growth and trends in our businesses, and other characterizations of future events or circumstances are forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned that these forward-looking statements are only predictions and are subject to risks, uncertainties, and assumptions that are difficult to predict, including those under “Part I, Item 1A. Risk Factors,” and elsewhere herein. Therefore, actual results may differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements for any reason.
OVERVIEW
Cisco designs and sells a broad range of technologies including hardware, software, and artificial intelligence (AI) powered digital infrastructure to power, help secure, and draw insights from the Internet. We are incorporating AI into our product portfolios across networking, security, collaboration and observability, as well as integrating our products more tightly together into a platform. We are simplifying how our technology is delivered, managed and optimized and helping customers maximize the business value of their technology investments.
A summary of our results is as follows (in millions, except percentages and per-share amounts):
| Three Months Ended | Years Ended | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| July 25, 2026 | July 26, 2025 | Variance | July 25, 2026 | July 26, 2025 | Variance | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Revenue | $ | 17,252 | $ | 14,673 | 18 | % | $ | 63,325 | $ | 56,654 | 12 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gross margin percentage | 64.1 | % | 63.2 | % | 0.9 | pts | 64.5 | % | 64.9 | % | (0.4) | pts | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Research and development | $ | 2,431 | $ | 2,380 | 2 | % | $ | 9,563 | $ | 9,300 | 3 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sales and marketing | $ | 2,952 | $ | 2,818 | 5 | % | $ | 11,559 | $ | 10,966 | 5 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| General and administrative | $ | 679 | $ | 706 | (4) | % | $ | 2,761 | $ | 2,992 | (8) | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total R&D, sales and marketing, general and administrative | $ | 6,062 | $ | 5,904 | 3 | % | $ | 23,883 | $ | 23,258 | 3 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total as a percentage of revenue | 35.1 | % | 40.2 | % | (5.1) | pts | 37.7 | % | 41.1 | % | (3.4) | pts | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Restructuring and other charges included in operating expenses | $ | 511 | $ | 35 | NM | $ | 693 | $ | 744 | (7) | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Operating income as a percentage of revenue | 24.7 | % | 21.0 | % | 3.7 | pts | 24.3 | % | 20.8 | % | 3.5 | pts | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Income tax percentage | 21.8 | % | 15.0 | % | 6.8 | pts | 17.1 | % | 8.3 | % | 8.8 | pts | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Net income | $ | 3,859 | $ | 2,550 | 51 | % | $ | 13,267 | $ | 10,180 | 30 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Net income as a percentage of revenue | 22.4 | % | 17.4 | % | 5.0 | pts | 21.0 | % | 18.0 | % | 3.0 | pts | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Earnings per share—diluted | $ | 0.97 | $ | 0.64 | 52 | % | $ | 3.33 | $ | 2.55 | 31 | % |
Percentages may not recalculate due to rounding.
NM — Not meaningful
CISCO SYSTEMS, INC.
MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS (Continued)
Fiscal 2026 Compared with Fiscal 2025
In fiscal 2026, we delivered strong revenue growth and profitability in a continued positive demand environment. Total revenue was $63.3 billion, an increase of 12% compared with fiscal 2025. Within total revenue, product revenue increased by 16% and services revenue was flat. Total software revenue was $23.2 billion across all product areas and services, an increase of 4%, and total subscription revenue increased 1%.
We saw demand in fiscal 2026 for AI infrastructure from our hyperscaler customers, which represented approximately 6% of total revenue in fiscal 2026 compared with less than 2% in fiscal 2025. We expect this demand to remain a significant driver of our results in fiscal 2027, and we discuss the associated customer concentration and supply considerations in Part I, Item 1A. Risk Factors.
Total gross margin decreased by 0.4 percentage points, primarily driven by a decline in product gross margin, partially offset by an increase in services gross margin. Product gross margin decreased by 0.5 percentage points, primarily driven by negative impacts from product mix and higher memory costs, partially offset by productivity improvements, pricing actions, lower amortization of purchased intangible assets and a charge in fiscal 2025 as a result of a legal dispute with a supplier, which did not recur in fiscal 2026. As a percentage of revenue, research and development, sales and marketing, and general and administrative expenses, collectively, decreased by 3.4 percentage points. Operating income as a percentage of revenue increased by 3.5 percentage points primarily driven by revenue growth, partially offset by lower gross margin and higher operating expenses in fiscal 2026. Diluted earnings per share increased 31%, driven by revenue growth and operating margin improvement.
In terms of our geographic segments, revenue from the Americas increased by $4.1 billion, EMEA revenue increased by $1.8 billion and APJC revenue increased by $0.7 billion. From a customer market standpoint, we experienced product revenue growth across all of our customer markets.
From a product category perspecti
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Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
Our financial position is exposed to a variety of risks, including interest rate risk, equity price risk, and foreign currency exchange risk.
Interest Rate Risk
Available-for-Sale Debt Investments We maintain an investment portfolio of various holdings, types, and maturities. Our primary objective for holding available-for-sale debt investments is to achieve an appropriate investment return consistent with preserving principal and managing risk. At any time, a sharp rise in market interest rates could have a material adverse impact on the fair value of our available-for-sale debt investment portfolio. Conversely, declines in interest rates, including the impact from lower credit spreads, could have a material adverse impact on interest income for our investment portfolio. Our available-for-sale debt investments are held for purposes other than trading. Our available-for-sale debt investments are not leveraged as of July 25, 2026. We monitor our interest rate and credit risks, including our credit exposures to specific rating categories and to individual issuers. We believe the overall credit quality of our portfolio is strong.
The following tables present the hypothetical fair values of our available-for-sale debt investments, including the hedging effects when applicable, as a result of selected potential market decreases and increases in interest rates. The market changes reflect immediate hypothetical parallel shifts in the yield curve of plus or minus 50 basis points (BPS), 100 BPS, and 150 BPS. The hypothetical fair values as of July 25, 2026 and July 26, 2025 are as follows (in millions):
| VALUATION OF SECURITIES GIVEN AN INTEREST RATE DECREASE OF X BASIS POINTS | FAIR VALUE AS OF JULY 25, 2026 | VALUATION OF SECURITIES GIVEN AN INTEREST RATE INCREASE OF X BASIS POINTS | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (150 BPS) | (100 BPS) | (50 BPS) | 50 BPS | 100 BPS | 150 BPS | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Available-for-sale debt investments | $8,420 | $8,393 | $8,366 | $8,339 | $8,312 | $8,286 | $8,259 |
| VALUATION OF SECURITIES GIVEN AN INTEREST RATE DECREASE OF X BASIS POINTS | FAIR VALUE AS OF JULY 26, 2025 | VALUATION OF SECURITIES GIVEN AN INTEREST RATE INCREASE OF X BASIS POINTS | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (150 BPS) | (100 BPS) | (50 BPS) | 50 BPS | 100 BPS | 150 BPS | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Available-for-sale debt investments | $7,454 | $7,430 | $7,405 | $7,381 | $7,356 | $7,332 | $7,307 |
Financing Receivables As of July 25, 2026, our financing receivables had a carrying value of $8.3 billion, compared with $6.5 billion as of July 26, 2025. As of July 25, 2026, a hypothetical 50 BPS increase or decrease in market interest rates would change the fair value of our financing receivables by a decrease or increase of approximately $0.1 billion, respectively.
Debt As of July 25, 2026, we had $23.0 billion in principal amount of senior fixed-rate notes outstanding. The carrying amount of the senior fixed-rate notes was $22.9 billion, and the related fair value based on market prices was $22.7 billion. As of July 25, 2026, a hypothetical 50 BPS increase or decrease in market interest rates would change the fair value of the fixed-rate debt, by a decrease or increase of approximately $0.7 billion, respectively. However, this hypothetical change in interest rates would not impact the interest expense on the fixed-rate debt.
As of July 25, 2026, we had $6.7 billion in commercial paper outstanding, compared with $3.5 billion as of July 26, 2025. Because these borrowings are short-term and are refinanced on a recurring basis, our interest expense on commercial paper reprices with market interest rates. A sharp rise in market interest rates could cause us to incur additional interest expense to the extent we issue additional commercial paper or other debt.
Equity Price Risk
Marketable Equity Investments The fair value of our marketable equity investments is subject to market price volatility. We hold equity securities for strategic purposes or to diversify our overall investment portfolio. These equity securities are held for purposes other than trading. The total fair value of our marketable equity securities was $361 million and $383 million as of July 25, 2026 and July 26, 2025, respectively.
Non-Marketable Equity Securities These investments are recorded in other assets in our Consolidated Balance Sheets. The total carrying amount of our non-marketable equity securities was $4.0 billion and $1.9 billion as of July 25, 2026 and July 26, 2025, respectively. The increase was primarily due to net unrealized gains of $1.4 billion recognized during fiscal 2026 based on observable price changes, together with additional investments. Some of these companies in which we invested are in the startup or development stages. These investments are inherently risky because the markets for the technologies or products these companies are developing are typically in the early stages and may never materialize. We could lose our entire investment in these companies. Because gains and losses on these investments are recognized based on observable price changes in orderly transactions for identical or similar investments of the same issuer, the carrying amount may decrease in future periods if such transactions occur at lower valuations, and any resulting losses could be material. Our evaluation of non-marketable equity securities is based on the fundamentals of the businesses invested in, including, among other factors, the nature of their technologies and potential for financial return.
Foreign Currency Exchange Risk
Our foreign exchange forward contracts outstanding at fiscal year-end are summarized in U.S. dollar equivalents as follows (in millions):
| July 25, 2026 | July 26, 2025 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Notional Amount | Fair Value | Notional Amount | Fair Value | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Forward contracts: | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Purchased | $ | 4,088 | $ | (88) | $ | 4,498 | $ | (21) | |||||||||||||||
| Sold | $ | 4,598 | $ | 95 | $ | 4,480 | $ | 22 |
Movement in foreign currency exchange rates would change the fair value of our foreign exchange forward contracts. Because we enter into these contracts to offset exposures on underlying forecasted transactions and on foreign currency denominated receivables and payables, we would expect any such change to be substantially offset by an opposite change in the value of those underlying exposures.
We conduct business globally in numerous currencies. The direct effect of foreign currency fluctuations on revenue has not been material because our revenue is primarily denominated in U.S. dollars. However, if the U.S. dollar strengthens relative to other currencies, such strengthening could have an indirect effect on our revenue to the extent it raises the cost of our products to non-U.S. customers and thereby reduces demand. A weaker U.S. dollar could have the opposite effect. However, the precise indirect effect of currency fluctuations is difficult to measure or predict because our revenue is influenced by many factors in addition to the impact of such currency fluctuations.
Approximately 75% of our operating expenses are U.S.-dollar denominated. In fiscal 2026, foreign currency fluctuations, net of hedging, increased our combined R&D, sales and marketing, and G&A expenses by approximately $195 million, or 0.8%, as compared with fiscal 2025. To reduce variability in operating expenses and service cost of sales caused by non-U.S.-dollar denominated operating expenses and costs, we may hedge certain forecasted foreign currency transactions with currency options and forward contracts. These hedging programs are not designed to provide foreign currency protection over long time horizons. In designing a specific hedging approach, we consider several factors, including offsetting exposures, significance of exposures, costs associated with entering into a particular hedge instrument, and potential effectiveness of the hedge. The gains and losses on foreign exchange contracts mitigate the effect of currency movements on our operating expenses and service cost of sales.
We also enter into foreign exchange forward and option contracts to reduce the short-term effects of foreign currency fluctuations on receivables and payables that are denominated in currencies other than the functional currencies of the entities. The market risks associated with these foreign currency receivables and payables relate primarily to variances from our forecasted foreign currency transactions and balances. We do not enter into foreign exchange forward or option contracts for speculative purposes.
Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data
Index to Consolidated Financial Statements
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
To the Board of Directors and Stockholders of Cisco Systems, Inc.
Opinions on the Financial Statements and Internal Control over Financial Reporting
We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Cisco Systems, Inc. and its subsidiaries (the “Company”) as of July 25, 2026 and July 26, 2025, and the related consolidated statements of operations, of comprehensive income, of stockholders' equity and of cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended July 25, 2026, including the related notes (collectively referred to as the “consolidated financial statements”). We also have audited the Company's internal control over financial reporting as of July 25, 2026, based on criteria established in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO).
In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of July 25, 2026 and July 26, 2025, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended July 25, 2026 in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. Also in our opinion, the Company maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of July 25, 2026, based on criteria established in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the COSO.
Basis for Opinions
The Company's management is responsible for these consolidated financial statements, for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting, and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, included in the accompanying Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting. Our responsibility is to express opinions on the Company’s consolidated financial statements and on the Company's internal control over financial reporting based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.
We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audits to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the consolidated financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud, and whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects.
Our audits of the consolidated financial statements included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the consolidated financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the consolidated financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the consolidated financial statements. Our audit of internal control over financial reporting included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, and testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk. Our audits also included performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinions.
Definition and Limitations of Internal Control over Financial Reporting
A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide
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Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure
None.
Item 9A. Controls and Procedures
Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
Based on our management’s evaluation (with the participation of our principal executive officer and principal financial officer), as of the end of the period covered by this report, our principal executive officer and principal financial officer have concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”)), are effective to ensure that information required to be disclosed by us in reports that we file or submit under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in Securities and Exchange Commission rules and forms and is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.
Internal Control over Financial Reporting
Management’s report on our internal control over financial reporting and the report of our independent registered public accounting firm on our internal control over financial reporting are set forth, respectively, on page 55 under the caption “Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting” and on page 53 of this report.
There was no change in our internal control over financial reporting during our fourth quarter of fiscal 2026 that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.
Item 9B. Other Information
Rule 10b5-1 Trading Arrangements
On June 6, 2026, Nichlas A. Fink, Cisco’s Senior Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer, adopted a trading plan intended to satisfy the affirmative defense conditions of Rule 10b5-1(c) under the Exchange Act. Mr. Fink’s trading plan provides for the sale of 14,440 gross shares, plus any related dividend-equivalent shares earned with respect to such shares and excluding, as applicable, any shares withheld to satisfy tax withholding obligations in connection with the net settlement of the equity awards. Mr. Fink’s trading plan is scheduled to terminate on June 25, 2027, subject to early termination for certain specified events set forth therein.
Item 9C. Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections
Not applicable.
PART III
Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance
We have adopted a code of ethics that applies to our principal executive officer and all members of our finance department, including the principal financial officer and principal accounting officer. This code of ethics can be found at the “Financial Officer Code of Ethics” link in the Corporate Governance section of Cisco’s Investor Relations website at investor.cisco.com. We intend to satisfy any disclosure requirement regarding an amendment to, or waiver from, a provision of this code of ethics by posting such information on that website or in a report on Form 8-K.
Insider Trading Arrangements and Policies
We are committed to promoting high standards of ethical business conduct and compliance with applicable laws, rules and regulations. As part of this commitment, we have adopted an Insider Trading Policy governing transactions in our securities by our directors, employees, contractors, consultants and other personnel providing services to Cisco, as well as by Cisco itself, that we believe is reasonably designed to promote compliance with insider trading laws, rules and regulations and The Nasdaq Stock Market listing standards. The foregoing summary of the Insider Trading Policy does not purport to be complete and is qualified in its entirety by reference to the full text of the Insider Trading Policy attached hereto as Exhibit 19.1.
The additional information required by this item is included in our Proxy Statement related to the 2026 Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be filed with the SEC within 120 days after July 25, 2026 (the “Proxy Statement”) and is incorporated herein by reference.
Item 11. Executive Compensation
The information required by this item is included in our Proxy Statement and is incorporated herein by reference.
Item 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters
The information required by this item is included in our Proxy Statement and is incorporated herein by reference.
Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence
The information required by this item is included in our Proxy Statement and is incorporated herein by reference.
Item 14. Principal Accountant Fees and Services
The information required by this item is included in our Proxy Statement and is incorporated herein by reference.
PART IV
Item 15. Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules
(a)1. Financial Statements
See the “Index to Consolidated Financial Statements” on page 52 of this report.
2.Financial Statement Schedule
All financial statement schedules have been omitted, since the required information is not applicable or is shown in the financial statements or notes herein.
3.Exhibits
See the “Index to Exhibits” beginning on page 100 of this report.
INDEX TO EXHIBITS
| † | Certain of the exhibits and schedules to this Exhibit have been omitted in accordance with Regulation S-K Item 601(a)(5). Cisco agrees to furnish a copy of all omitted exhibits and schedules to the SEC upon its request. | ||||
| * | Indicates a management contract or compensatory plan or arrangement. |
Item 16. Form 10-K Summary
None.
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this Report on Form 10-K to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.
| September 2, 2026 | CISCO SYSTEMS, INC. | |||||||||||||
| /S/ CHARLES H. ROBBINS | ||||||||||||||
| Charles H. Robbins | ||||||||||||||
| Chair and Chief Executive Officer |
POWER OF ATTORNEY
KNOW ALL PERSONS BY THESE PRESENTS, that each person whose signature appears below constitutes and appoints Charles H. Robbins and Mark Patterson, jointly and severally, his attorney-in-fact, each with the full power of substitution, for such person, in any and all capacities, to sign any and all amendments to this Annual Report on Form 10-K, and to file the same, with all exhibits thereto and other documents in connection therewith, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, granting unto said attorney-in-fact and agent full power and authority to do and perform each and every act and thing requisite and necessary to be done in connection therewith, as fully to all intents and purposes as he might do or could do in person hereby ratifying and confirming all that each of said attorneys-in-fact and agents, or his substitute, may do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, this Report on Form 10-K has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated.
| Signature | Title | Date | ||||||
| /S/ CHARLES H. ROBBINS | Chair and Chief Executive Officer | September 2, 2026 | ||||||
| Charles H. Robbins | (Principal Executive Officer) | |||||||
| /S/ MARK PATTERSON | Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer | September 2, 2026 | ||||||
| Mark Patterson | (Principal Financial Officer) | |||||||
| /S/ NICHLAS A. FINK | Senior Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer | September 2, 2026 | ||||||
| Nichlas A. Fink | (Principal Accounting Officer) | |||||||
| Signature | Title | Date | ||||||
| /S/ MICHAEL D. CAPELLAS | Lead Independent Director | September 2, 2026 | ||||||
| Michael D. Capellas | ||||||||
| /S/ MARK GARRETT | Director | September 2, 2026 | ||||||
| Mark Garrett | ||||||||
| /S/ JOHN D. HARRIS II | Director | September 2, 2026 | ||||||
| John D. Harris II | ||||||||
| /S/ KRISTINA M. JOHNSON | Director | September 2, 2026 | ||||||
| Dr. Kristina M. Johnson | ||||||||
| /S/ SARAH RAE MURPHY | Director | September 2, 2026 | ||||||
| Sarah Rae Murphy | ||||||||
| /S/ PETER A. SHIMER | Director | September 2, 2026 | ||||||
| Peter A. Shimer | ||||||||
| /S/ MARIANNA TESSEL | Director | September 2, 2026 | ||||||
| Marianna Tessel | ||||||||
| /S/ KEVIN WEIL | Director | September 2, 2026 | ||||||
| Kevin Weil |