New York, Feb 10, 2026, 06:14 EST — Premarket
- Cisco has unveiled its Silicon One G300 networking chip, targeting AI data centers.
- AI infrastructure chipmakers drove the bounce-back in the previous session.
- Next up: Cisco reports earnings Feb. 11, with traders eyeing the results for any new signals on AI-driven demand.
Cisco Systems rolled out its Silicon One G300 networking chip on Tuesday, along with a suite of new equipment geared for AI-heavy data centers—a move that lands the company deeper into an increasingly packed sector of the AI market. Cisco shares finished the last session at $86.78, up 2.3%. 1
Why is this relevant? Training AI relies on linking vast arrays of graphics processing units (GPUs)—the very chips powering today’s AI—and those connections can quickly turn into a bottleneck. When network switches lag, pricey GPUs aren’t working.
Bottleneck worries are surfacing as investors grow jittery over which names will come out on top—or lose out—in the AI sweepstakes. Software and services shares have trailed the S&P 500 by a hefty 24 percentage points across the last three months, after what Reuters described as a sharp tumble set off by a fresh legal feature introduced in Anthropic’s Claude large language model. 2
Tech stocks in the U.S. bounced back Monday, steadying after last week’s AI-driven drop. The S&P 500 tech sector moved up 1.6%, and the Philadelphia semiconductor index edged 1.4% higher, according to Reuters. Keith Lerner, chief investment officer at Truist Advisory Services, put it this way: “A little bit of good news can go a long way.” Investors are already eyeing payrolls numbers set for Wednesday and consumer price data expected Friday. 3
Nvidia shot up 2.4% to close at $190.04 in the previous session. Broadcom picked up 3.3%, ending at $343.94. AMD finished 3.6% higher at $216. Microsoft tacked on 3.1% to reach $413.60, once more pulling its weight among the tech heavyweights.
Cisco’s latest chip, built on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s advanced 3-nanometer process, is slated to hit the market sometime in the second half of the year, according to Reuters. The company touted “shock absorber” features, aiming to prevent AI network slowdowns when traffic surges, and said the hardware can reroute data in just microseconds. Cisco is stepping into a space where Nvidia’s already bundling networking silicon into its own systems, and Broadcom is pushing its Tomahawk switching chips. 4
Cisco finished Monday at a fresh 52-week high, with trading volume topping its recent 50-day average, according to MarketWatch. Moves like that tend to attract short-term traders, sometimes well ahead of when the numbers hit the books. 5
This trade’s been volatile, swinging fast in either direction. A pullback in data-center budgets, or another inflation print that sends yields higher, can slam hardware stocks that are loaded with growth expectations. Cisco, for its part, still needs to convince major clients to ditch entrenched competitors already embedded in those AI clusters.
Cisco steps up next, its quarterly results landing after the bell Wednesday, Feb. 11. The conference call hits at 4:30 p.m. ET. What investors want: straightforward updates on orders, shipping, and whether AI networking budgets are picking up pace—or slowing down. 6
