CISCO SYSTEMS, A digital communications firm, is planning to lay off 7% of its employees, globally.

Its second round of job cuts this year as the company shifts its focus to more rapidly growing areas in technology such as artificial intelligence and cybersecurity.

The company based in San Jose, California, did not specify the number of jobs it is cutting. The Journal has asked the firm if jobs at their Irish offices are at risk.

It had 84,900 employees as of July 2023. Based on that figure, the number of jobs cut would be about 5,900. In February, Cisco announced it would cut about 4,000 jobs.

The networking equipment maker said in June that it would invest $1 billion (€908 million) in tech start-ups like Cohere, Mistral and Scale to develop reliable AI products.

Company projections for the final quarter of this year, published yesterday, show Cisco expect a 10% drop in their year-on-year revenue.

It recently also announced a partnership with Nvidia to develop infrastructure for AI systems.

In a foray into cybersecurity, Cisco launched a cybersecurity readiness index back in March to help businesses measure their resiliency against attacks.

Additional reporting by Muiris O’Cearbhaill