2026-01-15 02:51Summary of 4Q25 CIO Survey Takeaways Industry Overview - Industry: Telecom & Networking Equipment - Region: North America Key Points Communications Spending Growth - The 4Q25 CIO survey indicates a year-over-year deceleration in Communications spending growth, with expectations for 2026 set at 2.2%, down 87 basis points from the 3Q25 survey and 27 basis points below the 2025 expectations of 2.4% [3][7][22] - Overall IT budgets are expected to grow at 3.4% in 2026, a decline of 41 basis points from 3.8% in the 3Q25 survey [3][7] Budgetary Environment - The up-to-down ratio, which measures the ratio of CIOs expecting to revise their budgets higher versus lower, decreased to 0.5x in 4Q25 from 0.8x in 3Q25, indicating a more cautious outlook [3][18] - The survey results suggest a weakening overall budgetary environment, contrasting with positive checks on networking spending [3][7] Networking Equipment Priority - Networking equipment remains the 8th priority for CIOs, consistent with the 3Q25 survey, and its defensibility improved to 8th from 9th in the previous survey [3][7][12] - Despite the deceleration in Communications growth, checks indicate a strong networking spending environment driven by data center and campus spending, with no signs of weakening enterprise customer sentiment [3][7] Growth Drivers for Specific Companies - Continued growth drivers for Cisco Systems (CSCO) and F5 Networks (FFIV) include product refreshes and share gain opportunities, which are expected to sustain spending for these companies [7][8] AI and Cloud Trends - Artificial Intelligence (AI) projects are a top priority, with 81% of CIOs expecting to roll out their first AI project by 2026, up from 79% in 3Q25 [14][30] - Long-term expectations for public cloud usage are rising, with CIOs anticipating 67% of workloads to be in the public cloud by the end of 2028, compared to 47% today [15][27] CIO Sentiment - The sentiment among CIOs reflects a cautious approach towards budget revisions and spending, with networking equipment remaining a stable priority despite overall spending deceleration [3][12][18] Additional Insights - The survey indicates that 16% of CIOs expect AI/ML projects to have the largest spend increase, reflecting a growing focus on AI-related investments [14] - The prioritization of networking projects remains stable, with 4.0% of CIOs expecting networking equipment to see the largest spend increase in 2026 [12][23] This summary encapsulates the key findings from the 4Q25 CIO survey, highlighting trends in communications spending, networking equipment priorities, and the impact of AI and cloud technologies on future budgets.