In a significant testament to Cisco’s growing influence in the AI sector, Chairman and CEO Chuck Robbins revealed that the company’s recent partnership with Saudi Arabia’s HUMAIN initiative is poised to rival major U.S. hyperscalers in scale and impact.

“What we announced with HUMAIN in Saudi will look like one of the US hyperscalers at the end of the day. It’s going to be big,” Robbins told CNBC’s ‘Squawk on the Street’ following Cisco’s impressive Q3 2025 earnings report.

The networking giant has been named as a key partner in HUMAIN’s ambitious AI data center buildout in Saudi Arabia. This collaboration, announced earlier this week, is part of a broader initiative backed by Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth funding that also includes partnerships with tech heavyweights like Nvidia, AMD, AWS, Qualcomm, and Groq.

Strategic Middle East Expansion

Cisco’s Middle East strategy extends beyond Saudi Arabia. The company recently announced it would extend its existing partnership with G42 to help deploy AI systems in the United Arab Emirates, according to Data Center Dynamics. Additionally, Cisco plans to fund the Cisco AI Institute at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) and upskill up to 500,000 locals as part of its commitment to the region.

“AI can unlock groundbreaking opportunities for economic growth and innovation, accelerating KSA’s Vision 2030,” Robbins stated in the announcement. “Today marks a new milestone in more than 25 years of partnership with the Kingdom.”

Earnings Momentum

The company’s Q3 2025 earnings exceeded expectations, continuing what Robbins described as “a bit of a run relative to expectations for the last couple of years.” Cisco’s traditional business segments showed remarkable strength alongside its AI initiatives.

“Our enterprise networking business, our campus switching business was up high single digits. Our enterprise routing business was up double digits,” Robbins detailed. He also highlighted that orders for Wi-Fi 7, a new wireless technology, grew by triple digits from Q2 to Q3.

In the webscale space, where Cisco has been making significant investments in silicon technology, the company reported “the third consecutive quarter of triple-digit order growth,” marking substantial market share gains for a company that Robbins admitted was “nowhere in the webscale space” when he took over.

AI Infrastructure Investment Trends

When questioned about the trajectory of AI infrastructure spending, Robbins expressed confidence that the market is nowhere near its peak. “It doesn’t feel that way,” he stated, emphasizing that despite macroeconomic caution, “this transition is so big for all of our customers that they’re not going to slow down unless they’re absolutely forced to.”

The CEO explained that customers are concerned about falling behind competitors and are eager to leverage AI technology to improve pro🍌ductivity and customer experience.

Regarding the potentially non-linear nature of AI-related orders, Robbins clarified: “These are big customers that place big orders and then they digest the big orders… We took $350 million worth of orders for AI infrastructure in Q2. Q3 was over $600 million. So they’re ramping.”

Nvidia Partnership

Cisco’s partnership with Nvidia represents another significant growth avenue. Robbins mentioned that most of the solutions from this collaboration haven’t yet been delivered but will begin rolling out in approximately 60 days.

“We’ve got a multifaceted partnership,” Robbins said, adding that he had recently spoken with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who was already exploring additional collaborative opportunities. “He’s full of energy,” Robbins noted.

Despite global economic uncertainties, Cisco’s strong performance across multiple segments indicates that enterprise technology spending remains resilient, particularly for transformative technologies like AI. With strategic partnerships in place and substantial order growth, Cisco appears well-positioned to capitalize on the continued expansion of AI infrastructure worldwide.