Cisco Systems, Inc. ( CSCO ) shares are trading marginally higher on Friday.

The software behemoth reportedly agreed to fund CoreWeave, a cloud-computing provider valued at about $23 billion, reported Bloomberg.

Major tech companies have been making substantial investments to enhance infrastructure for AI development. The rise of artificial intelligence applications like ChatGPT and the training of large language models has driven increased demand for cloud computing services, per a Reuters report.

Also Read: OpenAI Valuation Soars To $157B In Latest Funding Round

CoreWeave’s chief executive officer is Michael Intrator. CoreWeave counts NVIDIA Corporation ( NVDA ), Magnetar Capital, Coatue Management, Jane Street, and Fidelity, among its investors.

The latest deal allows existing shareholders of Cisco ( CSCO ) such as employees to tender $400 million to $500 million of their holdings, Bloomberg reported earlier.

Also Read: Cisco Set For Technical Breakout As Golden Cross Signals Strength: Analyst Predicts Stock Will ‘Quietly’ Climb Higher

According to Benzinga Pro, CSCO stock has lost over 1% in the past year. Investors can gain exposure to the stock via iShares U.S. Telecommunications ETF ( IYZ ) and First Trust NASDAQ Cybersecurity ETF ( CIBR ) .

Earlier this month,  VAST Data, an AI data platform company, announced it has extended its collaboration with Cisco ( CSCO ) to further simplify AI deployments for enterprises. 

“As AI adoption grows, it’s clear that data centers will be a pivotal proving ground where business is won and lost. The challenge is that the complexity with managing, configuring, updating, and patching a modern data center is only getting harder with AI,” said Jeremy Foster, SVP and GM of Cisco Compute.

Price Action: CSCO shares are trading higher by 0.57% to $52.73 premarket at last check Friday.

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