** Cisco CSCO.O shares fall 8% premarket as margin miss overshadows strong demand

** Q2 adj. gross margin slipped to 67.5%, below 68.14% estimate, hit by soaring memory costs

** Analysts at Piper Sandler said "Component concerns overshadow a good qtr", adding that memory‑driven margin pressure and ongoing Security weakness kept the bar high, even as networking and AI infrastructure "executed extremely well"

** CEO Chuck Robbins said Cisco has lifted prices and tightened partner contracts to track faster memory‑cost swings, and expects margins to improve into FY27

** Cisco now expects FY26 revenue of $61.2–61.7 bln, helped by robust AI pipeline and early campus refresh activity

** AI orders surged to $2.1 bln, up from $1.3 bln last quarter

** YTD, stock up 11%

(Reporting by Rashika Singh in Bengaluru)

((Rashika.Singh@thomsonreuters.com;))