Don't think it was posted here already:

https://www.fibereality.com/blog/cisco-accelerating-pace-away-from-systems

"The critical reason for Cisco Systems’ elaborate dog and pony show focusing on its latest ASIC, Silicon One, appears to be the simplest one: to indirectly start laying the foundation for its eventual exit from the system space across the board. Although fibeReality has discussed the possibility of such a radical change in the supplier’s corporate strategy previously, shifting market dynamics have apparently forced the supplier to move more quickly towards what it perceives to be the greater appeal of underlying, innovative technology solutions: hence, an even greater focus on the mantra: “chips, optics and software.” However, we continue to assert that the second category will remain by far the least vital to Cisco because it simply does not tend to generate the higher margins of the other two sectors, and it has always represented such a tiny percentage of its overall revenue. In addition, we contend in this article that Cisco’s latest acquisition further supports the notion of speeding up the process in targeting valuable IP strictly at the low end of the food chain."

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