US AI Data Centers ‘Are Going to Get Built’ Despite Political Pushback, Says Cisco CEO: ‘Too Important to Our Country’

Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Chair and CEO Chuck Robbins said U.S. AI data-center demand has not shifted overseas after the midterms and argued planned projects "are going to get built," adding that the political dynamics around construction "will get resolved."

Robbins Sees U.S. Buildout Staying Put

On Cisco’s fiscal first-quarter 2027 earnings call, Goldman Sachs analyst Michael Ng asked whether the midterm results and the risk of capacity becoming harder to originate in the U.S. were pushing AI networking demand abroad.

Robbins said Cisco had "not seen a shift of demand" expected in the U.S. to go outside the country and said he did not expect that to change.

He said several states have not declared moratoriums and noted that energy availability remains necessary for new projects. Robbins added that at least one governor had indicated openness to data-center development if projects address community concerns and energy costs.

"I think this is too important to our country, and it’s too important to the industry," Robbins said.

"It’ll get resolved," he added, saying the "last thing we want" is for data centers to be built outside the U.S. while acknowledging "a lot of political dynamics" around the issue./p> div class="bz-read-next-block" data-variant="card" data-news-mode="manual" >

strong> Read Also: a href="https://www.benzinga.com/markets/tech/26/11/63230548/cisco-is-making-more-money-with-fewer-workers-ceo-chuck-robbins-says-every-worker-now-has-an-ai-agent-as-claude-mythos-joins-security-business" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Cisco Is Making More Money With Fewer Workers — CEO Chuck Robbins Says Every Worker Now Has an AI Agent as Claude Mythos Joins Security Business/a> /strong> /p>

‘These Data Centers Are Going To Get Built’

Earlier, Cleveland Research analyst Ben Bollin asked about a potential imbalance between raw-material capacity and data-center shells coming online in 2028 and beyond.

Robbins said he expects the geopolitical side to "get worked out" and, based on current demand, "these data centers are going to get built."

He said Cisco does not see much resource-side risk or anything likely to surprise the company regarding data-center construction over the next two years.

Cisco Raises AI Outlook

Cisco reported first-quarter revenue of $18.5 billion, up 24% year over year, while non-GAAP earnings per share rose 40% to $1.40.

Robbins said Cisco now projects fiscal 2027 AI infrastructure revenue from hyperscalers to reach $9 billion, more than double fiscal 2026 levels. He also said Cisco has secured 18 AI design wins over the past five quarters.

How Has CSCO Performed in 2026?

The stock was higher by 37.93% over the last year, down 32.43% year-to-date, and lower by 11.56% over the last month. It closed 1.24% higher at $102.01 per share on Thursday; the stock was down 3.56% in premarket trading on Friday.

Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that CSCO maintains a negative price trend in the short and medium terms but a positive price trend in the long term, with a good quality score./p> figure class="wp-block-image size-full">/figure> div class="bz-read-next-block" data-variant="card" data-news-mode="manual" >

strong> Read Also: a href="https://www.benzinga.com/markets/private-markets/26/11/63231331/nvidia-backed-nscale-warns-it-needs-more-financing-amid-44-6b-anthropic-contract-ahead-of-us-ipo-as-nine-month-loss-widens-to-1-69-billion" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Nvidia-Backed Nscale Warns It Needs More 'Financing' Amid $44.6B Anthropic Contract Ahead of US IPO As Nine-Month Loss Widens to $1.69 Billion/a> /strong> /p>

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

Image via Shutterstock