Cerebras Systems is set to be the largest IPO of 2026 so far, with the AI chipmaker on track to raise up to $4.8 billion at a $48.8 billion valuation after its order book closed roughly 20 times oversubscribed.<\/p>\n
The Sunnyvale company lifted its price range to $150 to $160 per share from $115 to $125 and bumped the offering to 30 million shares. At the high end, the deal would be the largest US listing in nearly five years.<\/p>\n
Cerebras designs specialized AI chips built around its Wafer Scale Engine, a processor the size of a dinner plate that packs more than 4 trillion transistors onto a single piece of silicon.<\/p>\n
The company is focused on inference, the computing required to run trained AI models, rather than training. The pitch is faster and cheaper inference performance than Nvidia (NASDAQ:<\/a>NVDA<\/a>) GPUs, which still dominate both sides of the market.<\/p>\n OpenAI\u2019s Circular Playbook <\/p>\n A March Amazon Web Services partnership and OpenAI\u2019s $20 billion-plus compute deal largely solved the customer concentration problem that derailed Cerebras\u2019 2024 listing attempt. But access to Sam Altman\u2019s inner circle did not come cheap.<\/p>\n Cerebras is handing OpenAI warrants worth up to 10% of the company, around $5 billion at the IPO midpoint, or roughly half the gross profit it stands to make on the deal, according to Financial Times calculations<\/a>.<\/p>\n It is the same playbook OpenAI ran with Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:<\/a>AMD<\/a>), whose shares have tripled since the two companies announced their own circular arrangement last October.<\/p>\n What Polymarket Traders Are Pricing In <\/p>\n A Polymarket contract<\/a> on Cerebras\u2019 closing market cap on day one has the $50 billion to $60 billion bucket as the favorite at 33%, followed by $60 billion to $70 billion at 25% and $70 billion to $80 billion at 17%. The \u201cunder $50 billion\u201d outcome sits at just 6%.<\/p>\n The Hiive secondary market backs that read, with Cerebras shares reportedly changing hands at $187.53 on Monday, about 17% above the top of the offering range<\/a>.<\/p>\n The crown may be short-lived. SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic are all reportedly preparing 2026 listings, with SpaceX and OpenAI alone expected to raise a combined $135 billion. Polymarket<\/a> currently has SpaceX at 87% to finish 2026 as the largest IPO by market cap.<\/p>\n Cerebras begins trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker CBRS on Thursday.<\/p>\n Image: Shutterstock<\/p>\n