OPENAI
A very expensive soft launch
Cerebras Systems may finally be close to going public.
The AI chipmaker plans to sell 28m shares at $115 to $125 each. At the top end, that would raise around $3.5bn and value the company at $26.6bn.
If successful, it would be the biggest tech IPO of 2026 so far.
It could also show whether investors are ready for more major AI listings, including SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic.
Cerebras makes AI chips for inference, the process used when AI systems answer prompts.
Its main chip, the Wafer-Scale Engine 3, is designed to be faster and use less power than GPU-based chips.
The IPO could be a big win for investors, including Alpha Wave, Benchmark, Eclipse, Fidelity, and Foundation Capital.
Cerebras also lists several well-known angel investors, including Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, Ilya Sutskever, Adam D’Angelo, Andy Bechtolsheim, and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan.
OpenAI’s role is especially important. It is one of Cerebras’ biggest customers and loaned the company $1bn in December.
That deal could also let OpenAI buy more than 33m Cerebras shares in the future.
Three things matter here:
Cerebras could become 2026’s biggest tech IPO so far
OpenAI is both a major customer and a possible future shareholder
Strong demand suggests investors still want a piece of AI infrastructure
Nvidia, blink twice
Cerebras first tried to go public in 2024, but the plan was delayed by a federal review linked to G42, an Abu Dhabi-based cloud company and major customer.
Since then, Cerebras has raised more funding and signed a multi-year OpenAI deal worth more than $10bn.
Demand already looks strong.
Bloomberg reported that banks have received around $10bn in orders for the $3.5bn share sale, meaning Cerebras could price above its current range.
The AI boom has officially reached the “everybody please explain inference at dinner” stage.- MG