Cerebras gains momentum for a massive IPO amid OpenAI partnership

In the long-running journey toward going public, Cerebras Systems now appears close to reaching its IPO milestone. The company announced Monday that it plans to offer 28 million shares priced between $115 and $125 each. If successful, the move could raise around $3.5 billion and value the company at approximately $26.6 billion at the top end of that range.

Such a valuation would represent a notable increase for investors who participated in the company's $1 billion Series H round earlier this year, which valued Cerebras at $23 billion. It would also bring significant upside for OpenAI and several of its executives tied to the business.

If Cerebras completes its IPO at or above the upper end of its pricing range, it would be the largest technology IPO of 2026 so far. It could also signal strong investor demand for upcoming high-profile listings, including potential offerings from SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic.

Cerebras has built its business around a specialised AI chip known as the Wafer-Scale Engine 3, designed to compete with traditional GPU-based solutions. According to the company, its chip delivers faster inference performance while consuming less power than competing technologies. Inference refers to the computational process used to handle user prompts in AI systems.

A wide range of prominent investors stand to benefit from a successful IPO. Among the largest shareholders, each holding more than 5%, are Alpha Wave, Benchmark (through partner Eric Vishria), Eclipse (led by Lior Susan), Fidelity, and Foundation Capital (via partner Steve Vassallo), according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The company also lists investors, including 1789 Capital, Abu Dhabi Growth Fund, G42, Altimeter, AMD, Atreides Management, Coatue, Moore Strategic Ventures, Tiger Global, Valour Equity Partners, and VY Capital.

In addition to institutional investors, Cerebras has attracted several high-profile angel investors. These include OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, OpenAI president Greg Brockman, former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI board member and Quora CEO Adam D'Angelo, Sun Microsystems and Arista co-founder Andy Bechtolsheim, and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan, among others.

Although Altman's individual stake is not large enough to be disclosed in SEC filings, he is referenced in the company's S-1 documentation. More significantly, Cerebras' relationship with OpenAI has become a central part of its business story.

That connection even surfaced in legal filings tied to Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI. According to those filings, OpenAI had at one point explored acquiring Cerebras, though that deal never materialised.

Instead, OpenAI emerged as one of Cerebras' largest customers. In December, OpenAI extended a $1 billion loan to Cerebras, secured by warrants that would allow OpenAI to purchase more than 33 million shares in the company, according to the S-1. While OpenAI is not currently a major shareholder, it could become one in the future.

Cerebras initially aimed to go public in 2024. Still, those plans were delayed due to a federal review related to an investment by Abu Dhabi-based cloud provider G42, which remains a significant customer. The IPO effort was eventually paused.

The company later returned to the fundraising market. In September, it raised $1.1 billion at an $8.1 billion valuation in a round led by Fidelity and Atreides. Shortly afterwards, Cerebras secured a multi-year agreement with OpenAI for more than $10 billion, which included the aforementioned loan and warrants. This was followed by its $1 billion Series H round in February.

If investor demand holds, both OpenAI and its executives could benefit substantially from the IPO. Early signs suggest strong interest: banks are reportedly handling about $10 billion in orders for the $3.5 billion share offering, Bloomberg reports. That level of demand suggests shares could be priced above the initial range, increasing both the capital Cerebras raises and the value generated for its investors.