AI chipmaker Cerebras Systems surged 68% in its Nasdaq debut on Thursday, May 14, closing at $311.07 after pricing shares at $185 per share. The company raised $5.55 billion by selling 30 million shares, valuing Cerebras at about $95 billion at market close.
The stock opened at $350 and peaked at $386 before settling back during Thursday's trading session. This marks the largest initial public offering for a U.S. tech company since Uber went public in 2019. The rollercoaster didn't stop there, though. As CNBC reported, Cerebras shares saw volatility in early Friday, May 15, trading as the market digested the massive debut.
We now have two new tech billionaires from the blockbuster debut. CEO Andrew Feldman is holding a stake worth $3.2 billion, while co-founder and technology chief Sean Lie owns shares valued at $1.7 billion. The pair founded Cerebras roughly a decade ago.
Early investors were also rewarded from the IPO in proportion to their conviction. Benchmark, which co-led Cerebras' Series A funding round in 2016, is sitting on shares worth $5.5 billion at Thursday's close. Foundation Capital owns a stake valued at $4.8 billion. Demand for the IPO was exceptionally strong, with investor appetite exceeding available shares by more than 20 times.
Why Cerebras Pulled Its 2024 IPO Filing Before This Week's $95 Billion Debut
Cerebras originally filed to go public in September 2024, but withdrew its submission after the prospectus was heavily scrutinized. The main concern was the company's heavy reliance on a single customer in the United Arab Emirates, Microsoft-backed G42, which accounted for 85% of revenue in 2024.
The company chose to raise private capital instead. In February 2026, Cerebras was valued at $23.1 billion by investors. Just three months later, the public market valued it at $95 billion.
When Cerebras refiled to go public in April 2026, the story had changed on paper. The company said 24% of revenue last year came from G42, down sharply from 85% the prior year. However, the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence in the UAE still accounted for 62% of revenue in 2025.
What changed the narrative was OpenAI. Cerebras announced a cloud deal with OpenAI in January worth more than $20 billion that expires in 2028. Revenue jumped 76% to $510 million in 2025, proving the company had successfully diversified beyond its initial customer concentration issues.
SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic IPOs Expected to Follow Cerebras in 2026
Cerebras is the largest IPO of 2026 so far and the biggest AI-focused IPO to hit Wall Street. But it could be just the opening act for an even bigger wave of tech offerings this year.
Elon Musk's SpaceX, which merged with AI company xAI in February, is gearing up for a share sale. Model developers OpenAI and Anthropic could also hit the market later this year. All three companies are valued at or near trillion-dollar valuations in private markets.
Cerebras makes chips specifically designed for running AI models. The company claims its Wafer Scale Engine 3 chips are 58 times larger than a leading graphics processing unit and deliver results up to 15 times faster. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF has also jumped 58% so far in 2026, reflecting surging investor interest in AI chip companies.
