Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins wants data centers in space

AI Summary

In an interview with The Verge's Decoder podcast, Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins expressed strong support for building data centers in space, aligning himself with Elon Musk's vision and contrasting with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's skepticism. Robbins confirmed that Cisco teams began evaluating space-based data center requirements approximately two to three months prior to the interview, citing power abundance, elimination of cooling constraints, and avoidance of community opposition as key advantages. Robbins disclosed that Cisco's hyperscaler networking business has grown from near-zero revenue five or six years ago to 'billions' in the current fiscal year, driven primarily by AI infrastructure demand, with the enterprise data center networking segment posting double-digit growth in six of the last eight quarters. He attributed this competitive position largely to Cisco's 2016 acquisition of Israeli silicon company Leaba, which he said makes Cisco one of only approximately three companies globally capable of building the networking silicon required to connect GPUs and run AI training workloads. Robbins also stated directly that he believes the current AI investment cycle constitutes a bubble, though he drew parallels to the dot-com era, predicting that losers will fail while winners emerge and scale. On workforce, Robbins said Cisco, which employs approximately 85,000 people, expects AI to write roughly 70 percent of its code next year, and noted that companies will face a choice between maintaining innovation pace with fewer engineers or doubling output with the same headcount.