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Broadcom and Cisco both sell technology used to build and run enterprise infrastructure, but their portfolios and reporting scopes differ. The useful comparison is what each business includes, what is driving its reported results, and what the headline revenue figures do—and do not—measure.
What each company counts as software
Broadcom: a dedicated infrastructure software segment
Broadcom reports two segments: Semiconductor Solutions and Infrastructure Software. Its infrastructure software segment covers private-cloud, mainframe, cybersecurity and enterprise software portfolios, as well as its Fibre Channel storage-area-network (FC SAN) business. Broadcom describes the software as supporting the planning, development, delivery, automation, management and security of applications across mainframe, distributed, edge, mobile, private-cloud and hybrid-cloud environments. These scope details are from Broadcom’s FY2025 Form 10-K.
Cisco: software revenue across product areas and services
Cisco reports total software revenue across all product areas and services, rather than as a standalone software segment. Its named product categories are Networking, Security, Collaboration and Observability. Those categories include areas such as switching, routing, wireless and servers; network security, identity and access management, and SASE; Webex and contact center; and observability and network assurance. Cisco’s FY2026 Form 10-K describes the categories as product revenue, a different measure from its total software revenue.
How the latest reported results compare
The periods below are each company’s latest full fiscal year in the cited filings. Broadcom’s FY2025 ended November 2, 2025; Cisco’s FY2026 ended July 25, 2026. Figures are from Broadcom’s FY2025 Form 10-K and Cisco’s FY2026 Form 10-K.
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| Measure | Broadcom | Cisco |
|---|---|---|
| Software-related measure | Infrastructure Software segment revenue: $27.029 billion, up 26% year over year. | Total software revenue across product areas and services: $23.2 billion, up 4% year over year. |
| Company revenue | Total revenue: $63.887 billion. Infrastructure Software accounted for 42% of total revenue. | Total revenue: $63.325 billion. |
| Reporting scope | A separately reported segment focused on infrastructure software and related FC SAN. | A company-wide software measure crossing product areas and services. |
The software-related figures are not a like-for-like market-share comparison: one is a dedicated segment and the other spans Cisco’s product areas and services. Cisco’s product-category revenue also should not be added up and treated as its software total. The categories are product-revenue measures, not a breakdown of that cross-category software figure.
What Cisco’s product categories contribute
Cisco reported the following FY2026 product revenue by category. These figures describe product categories, not total software revenue; source: Cisco FY2026 Form 10-K.
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| Cisco product category | FY2026 product revenue |
|---|---|
| Networking | $34.668 billion |
| Security | $8.232 billion |
| Collaboration | $4.300 billion |
| Observability | $1.095 billion |
This product view makes Cisco’s broader infrastructure mix visible: networking is a named product category alongside security, collaboration and observability. It should not be read as a software-only breakdown, because Cisco’s total software figure also covers services and cuts across product areas.
Portfolio strategy and the role of VMware and Splunk
Broadcom and VMware Cloud Foundation
Broadcom presents VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) as an integrated enterprise platform spanning compute, networking, storage, management and security across supported environments. It is designed to support both virtual machines and containerized workloads. In Broadcom’s FY2025 filing, strong VCF demand was the primary driver of Infrastructure Software segment growth, alongside the transition to subscription licensing and license revenue on certain contracts without termination-for-convenience rights.
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When Broadcom announced its VMware acquisition in 2022, it described the deal as a way to combine its software portfolio with VMware’s multicloud capabilities. That announcement records the company’s rationale at the time; it does not establish that every anticipated benefit was achieved.
Cisco and Splunk
Cisco completed its acquisition of Splunk on March 18, 2024. Cisco positions the combination as bringing network visibility together with security and observability capabilities. In Cisco’s FY2024, Splunk contributed approximately $1.4 billion in revenue from the acquisition date through that fiscal year’s end, according to Cisco’s FY2026 filing’s comparative acquisition disclosure. That is a partial-year contribution, not a full-year measure of Splunk revenue.
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Cisco’s FY2026 filing describes a shift in customer consumption of Splunk offerings from fewer on-premise deals toward more cloud subscriptions in an earlier quarterly comparison. It does not quantify an overall migration rate, so that observation should not be treated as a company-wide or customer-wide percentage.
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Broadcom’s software growth
Broadcom reported $20.765 billion in Infrastructure Software segment operating income for FY2025, up 49% year over year. This is a segment operating-income figure, not software gross profit. Broadcom attributed the increase chiefly to VCF demand, the subscription transition, recognition of certain license revenue and lower labor costs following VMware integration.
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Cisco’s AI infrastructure demand
Cisco said hyperscaler AI infrastructure demand was approximately 6% of total company revenue in FY2026, compared with less than 2% in FY2025. This is a company-wide AI infrastructure figure, not software revenue. Cisco also identifies customer concentration and supply considerations in discussing this demand, so it should not be used as a proxy for software growth.
What the comparison can—and cannot—tell you
- For private-cloud and enterprise software scope: Broadcom reports a dedicated segment centered on infrastructure software, including VCF, mainframe and related portfolios.
- For a cross-category infrastructure portfolio: Cisco’s named product categories span networking, security, collaboration and observability, while its software revenue measure crosses product areas and services.
- For growth interpretation: Broadcom’s cited software growth context centers on VCF demand and a licensing-model transition. Cisco’s cited hyperscaler AI figure concerns total-company infrastructure demand, not software.
- For customer economics: The cited company filings do not establish comparable customer-level price changes, migration rates, retention, satisfaction or contract economics. Reported growth alone cannot answer which vendor offers better customer value.
The filings support a comparison of portfolio emphasis, accounting scope and reported performance, but not a ranking based on equivalent software revenue. Any such ranking would require a common definition of software revenue and comparable customer-level evidence that these reported figures do not provide.
Quick Recap
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