Beyond the plumbing: How Cisco and Nvidia are industrializing the ‘token economy’ – SiliconANGLE

The initial phase of the artificial intelligence gold rush was defined by “The Build.” Hyperscalers and model builders raced to secure every available Nvidia Corp. H100 GPU, constructing massive, centralized cathedrals of compute.

But as the industry descends from the peak of inflated expectations toward real-world utility, the conversation is shifting. AI is moving from the lab to the factory floor, the retail aisle and the telco edge.

At Nvidia’s annual GTC today in San Jose, Cisco Systems Inc. laid out its blueprint for this transition. Cisco’s message is for AI to work in the enterprise, it requires more than just raw GPU power. It needs a “Secure AI Factory” — a full-stack, validated architecture that treats AI not as a science project, but as a high-value production line.

The shift from plumbing to intelligence

For decades, Cisco’s role in the data center was to provide the “plumbing” — the reliable, invisible pipes that moved data from point A…