Digital communications tech firm Cisco is reportedly set to lay off thousands of employees as part of a business restructure.

According to sources cited by Reuters, the company is yet to decide the total number of employees to be affected by the layoffs from its global headcount of over 84,000.

The company is said to be refocusing its business around high-growth areas.

The sources said that an announcement could be made this week ahead of Cisco’s earnings call on 14 February.

This would be the first round of major cuts at Cisco since a restructuring in November 2022 where the company laid off roughly five per cent of its workforce in a move which led to $600 million in severance and other charges.

Cisco had previously cut its full-year revenue and profit forecasts in its last earnings call, blaming poor performance on a slowdown in orders. The company has also struggled with supply chain issues, and is repositioning around SaaS offerings such as cybersecurity products.

This would be the latest in a swathe of job cuts across technology and communications, with Nokia, Ericsson, Amazon, Alphabet and Microsoft all recently announcing headcount reductions.

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