Amphenol Shares Jump 6.2% After Evercore ISI Names It Top Pick

Cisco Systems introduced the Cisco AI POD for Splunk at the 2026 Splunk conference in Denver, a configuration that brings Splunk AI capabilities to customers running Splunk Enterprise in on-premises, private-cloud, and air-gapped environments by combining Cisco infrastructure with Nvidia accelerated computing. The move extends Cisco's push to capture more enterprise AI spending beyond hardware, and it comes alongside a multi-year agreement with AWS to co-develop Splunk-centered security products for AI-driven threats. Cisco took in $9.3 billion of AI infrastructure orders from hyperscalers in fiscal 2026, including $4 billion in the fourth quarter alone, and generated around $4 billion in AI infrastructure revenue during the year, a figure it expects to nearly double to $7.5 billion in fiscal 2027. The stress point is that infrastructure leads this growth and is exposed to competitive pricing and component cost inflation, while observability revenue grew just 6% in the fourth quarter, leaving open how quickly Cisco converts AI infrastructure into higher-value recurring software and security growth. Hedge fund positioning moved supportively before the Splunk announcement, with the number of funds holding Cisco rising to 101 in the second quarter from 97 in the first quarter and 77 in the fourth quarter, and short interest falling 5.77% from the prior reading to 55.5 million shares as of August 31.

Marvell Technology and GlobalFoundries have expanded their multi-year agreement to increase production capacity for silicon germanium, or SiGe, at GlobalFoundries' facility in Burlington, Vermont, sending Marvell shares up more than 4% and GlobalFoundries shares up more than 6% on September 17. SiGe is a semiconductor technology used in high-speed optical connections for data centers, allowing devices to operate at higher speeds while using less energy. Robb Johnson, Vice President of Foundry Technology at Marvell, said the expanded collaboration will help ensure the company has the SiGe technology and manufacturing capacity to support the significant growth it expects ahead, and the added capacity will help Marvell meet growing demand for optical networking products including pluggable optical transceivers, near-packaged optics, and co-packaged optics. GlobalFoundries reported $1.786 billion in revenue for the second quarter of 2026, up 6% year over year, with its communications infrastructure and data center segment accounting for about 16% of total revenue and growing 20% sequentially and 62% year over year, and CEO Tim Breen said demand for SiGe remains strong and the company is oversubscribed throughout 2027. Marvell reported record net revenue of $2.739 billion in the second quarter of fiscal 2027, up 37% year over year, and Chairman and CEO Matt Murphy said AI-related bookings remain exceptionally robust as the company raised its revenue outlook for fiscal 2027 and fiscal 2028.

Keysight Technologies executives said AI data-center buildouts are driving demand that currently exceeds supply, with revenue pushed beyond the company's typical six-month order-to-revenue window approaching $100 million. Speaking at a Truist investor conference, Chief Financial Officer Neil Dougherty said quarterly revenue has climbed from $1.6 billion in the first quarter to guidance of $1.94 billion for the fourth quarter, and that Keysight is adding internal capacity, raising capital expenditures, signing longer-term supplier agreements and qualifying second and third sources to ease constraints. Kailash Narayanan, senior vice president and president of Keysight's Communication Solutions Group, said the biggest contributors to AI-related business are speed transitions and system-level emulation, with traction in 1.6T technology and research already underway on 3.2T, silicon photonics and co-packaged optics. Keysight expects its 6G business to inflect in the first half of 2028, ahead of expected commercialization in late 2029 and 2030, while its U.S. aerospace and defense business has expanded at a strong double-digit rate and Europe is growing faster from a smaller base. Dougherty said the company expects incremental margins at or above its 40% target when growth exceeds 5%, and that three acquisitions completed near the start of the fiscal year are now integrated and expected to provide roughly $50 million in cost synergies next year; Keysight held $2.6 billion in cash at quarter-end and has repurchased more than $500 million of stock year to date.