Episode summary
What the AI Boom Looks Like From Inside Cisco with Sam Badri | The Real Eisman Playbook Ep 77
The Real Eisman Playbook
· · 44 min · Hosts: Steve Eisman · Guests: Sam Badri
Summary
Cisco’s investor-relations head Sam Badri argues that the company’s growth inflection is being driven by two forces: hyperscaler AI spending and a campus refresh cycle that is forcing customers to replace old networking gear. He says Cisco’s normalized growth had been around 5%, but fiscal 2027 guidance is for 15% revenue growth at the midpoint, with the most recent quarter around 18%.
Badri frames the AI opportunity as real but still early. He says Cisco is seeing much larger orders for Silicon One-based systems, and that the hyperscaler business is nearly doubling in FY27 while still remaining below 20% of revenue. He also pushes back on the idea that AI demand is already mature, arguing that most users are still at the prompt stage and that only a small minority have moved to skills files or AI agents.
He also explains why Cisco differs from Arista: Cisco has its own silicon and a much broader mix of legacy businesses, while Arista is more heavily exposed to hyperscalers. On the buildout side, he says data centers are getting far denser, with power requirements moving from 100 to 200 megawatts toward gigawatt-scale projects, and that Texas is seeing more grid and community pushback than before.
Key takeaways
- Sam Badri says Cisco’s fiscal 2027 guidance implies 15% revenue growth at the midpoint, up from a prior normalized growth rate around 5%.
- Badri says Cisco’s hyperscaler business is “almost doubling” in FY27, but still accounts for less than 20% of revenue.
- Badri argues the AI cycle is still early because roughly 90% of users remain at the basic prompt stage, with far fewer using skills files or agents.
- Badri says Cisco’s edge versus Arista is its own silicon and broader business mix, while Arista is more concentrated in hyperscalers.
- Badri says data center projects are moving from 100 to 200 megawatts toward gigawatt scale, increasing power density and grid constraints.
Notable quotes
“our fiscal year 27 guidance is actually 15% revenue growth at the midpoint”
“The fair majority of people that use these tools today are in the beginner stage. it's probably 90% of the users”
“I almost describe these tools as like when Microsoft Office was available. Some people kind of fought it”
“we are still early from a token consumption perspective”
How the episode opens
Hi, this is Steve Eisman and welcome to another episode of the Real Eyesman Playbook. So, we've been doing a lot of work on AI on this podcast for the last many, many months. We've gotten different perspectives.
We've had on Gilura and Dan Ies who are very positive. We've had Gary Marcus on who is negative. We recently had Ed Zitron on who was really negative.
But it's also good to talk to people who are not commentators but are in the trenches. And so today we have as a returning guest an old friend of mine Sam Badger who is head of investor relations at Cisco. Sam welcome back.
Thank you Steve. — So for those who don't know you other than the fact that you are head of investor relations at Cisco tell people a little bit about your background. When did you join Cisco and what were you before that? Yes, and thank you for having me back again. Um, maybe I'll do the funny plug first.
Okay. — Uh, one of my family members recently asked me, they said, "Hey, uh, Sammy, you're involved in this tech finance stuff. Have you heard of the the Einstein playbook?" And I said, "Do you mean the Eisman playbook?" They're like, "Yeah, yeah, that." I said, "Yeah, I'm familiar." Right. It was kind of funny. So, congrats on the success.
I'm gonna Thank you. And I think I may change the name. I think it's a better name. — Okay. It's uh, you know, if it's getting to one of my family members who asked me this question, it means you have reach and distribution. Um so uh I started off uh I graduated from undergrad. I started off in uh consulting at PWC. I did that for about a year and eight a year and nine months.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- ai adoption
- cisco revenue growth
- data center demand
- prompt-to-agent maturity
- arista vs cisco
Companies and tickers mentioned
- CSCO
- ANET
- Cisco
- Arista
Watch the episode
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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The Real Eisman Playbook, this episode and its artwork belong to Steve Eisman. Octagon is not affiliated with the show; this page is an independent summary.
