New Cisco Report Shows AI Demand is Outpacing Wireless Infrastructure

A new study from Cisco shows that the current state of enterprise wireless networks is hindering efforts to deploy artificial intelligence, and many organizations report they are still running infrastructure that wasn’t built to meet the demands now being placed on it.

Cisco’s 2026 State of Wireless Report is based on interviews with 6,098 wireless decision-makers and technical specialists across 30 markets. It identifies what Cisco calls a “wireless AI paradox,” in which AI is a leading driver of wireless ROI while also being the primary source of risk for networks.

Budgets vs. Infrastructure 

Cisco’s data shows that eight in 10 organizations have increased wireless investment over the past five years, and 82% expect budgets to continue growing. 

Despite increased spending, Wi-Fi 5 remains the most widely deployed standard, with 43% of organizations using it.

Market data from IDC shows that six out of every 10 dollars spent on enterprise WLAN access points globally in Q4 2025 went to Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7, and Wi-Fi 7 accounted for nearly 40% of access point revenue. The full-year 2025 enterprise WLAN market reached $10.5 billion, up 11.4% year-over-year.

Despite the increasing investment, only 19% of respondents to Cisco’s survey reported currently deploying Wi-Fi 6E or 7, with three in five planning to do so within the next year.

28% of organizations have deployed AI workloads over wireless, which is expected to increase to 79% by 2027.

IoT Growth

98% of wireless leaders surveyed by Cisco report that wireless operations are becoming more complex, and they say their teams are spending the majority of their time on reactive troubleshooting instead of doing strategic or modernization work.

63% of the respondents cited the growth of IoT and smart devices as the leading cause of wireless complexity, ahead of user mobility and Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) (55%) and high-bandwidth application adoption (52%). 

IoT Analytics estimates that connected IoT devices reached 21.1 billion at the end of 2025, growing 14% year-over-year, with Wi-Fi taking the largest share of connectivity technology at 32% of all global IoT connections.

Security Costs

According to the Cisco report, 85% of organizations experienced at least one wireless security incident in the past 12 months, and 58% reported financial losses as a result.

AI-generated and automated cyberattacks are reported as the main cause of increased wireless security risk, cited by 35% of respondents. 36% of affected organizations reported disruptions caused by compromised IoT or OT devices.

IBM’s 2025 Cost of a Data Breach Report found that globally, the average breach costs $4.44 million, and noted that attackers are now using AI in roughly one in six breaches. IBM found that, in the United States, average breach costs hit a record $10.22 million in 2025.

The Cisco report shows that organizations with modernized security are reporting measurable returns. Those with full WPA3 implementation are three times more likely to expect fewer security failures over the next two years and are 50% more likely to expect strong wireless ROI, compared to 19% among organizations without WPA3.

Talent and Certification

86% of organizations report difficulty hiring wireless professionals. Among those surveyed, the areas most commonly cited as pulling talent away from wireless are AI and machine learning (50%), cybersecurity (48%), and software development (40%). 

The Cisco report also links talent investment to security. Organizations facing high recruitment difficulty reported experiencing 70% higher annual security incident costs than those with no hiring challenges ($21.2 million annually versus $12.4 million). 

Organizations where at least 50% of personnel hold wireless technology certifications are 17 percentage points more likely to have fully implemented WPA3 and to use certificate-based authentication. 

IBM's breach cost research reinforces this, reporting that organizations with significant security skills shortages averaged $5.22 million in annual breach costs, compared to $3.65 million for those without shortages.

What to Do

Cisco offers five recommendations for resolving the wireless AI paradox: 

1. Accelerate Wi-Fi refreshes to 6E and 7
2. Implement AI-driven autonomous network operations (AgenticOps)
3. Establish end-to-end network visibility across clients, applications, and data 
4. Prioritize modern security protocols, including WPA3 and network segmentation
5. Invest in workforce certification

The full report is available at cisco.com.

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