Cisco stock has worst day since 2022 as memory prices pressure margins

Core Viewpoint - Cisco Systems shares experienced a significant decline of up to 12% due to rising memory prices impacting the company's margins, marking the stock's worst performance since 2022 [1] Group 1: Market Conditions - Strong demand for artificial intelligence chips from Nvidia has led to a global memory shortage, causing costs to increase dramatically for this component [2] - Large orders for data center memory have restricted production capacity for other devices, including smartphones, creating broader market implications [2] Group 2: Impact on Cisco - Cisco is facing challenges due to the memory price increases, as highlighted by CEO Chuck Robbins during the earnings call, where he mentioned plans to raise prices, revise contracts, and negotiate terms to adapt to changing component prices [3] - Despite reporting better-than-expected quarterly results, Cisco's shares fell approximately 7% following a mediocre forecast, with product gross margin for the quarter reported at 66.4%, down 130 basis points from the previous year, primarily due to negative impacts from product mix and higher memory costs [4]