AI chipmaker Cerebras Systems has withdrawn its plans for an initial public offering (IPO) in the United States, despite growing investor enthusiasm for AI-related stocks. The Sunnyvale, California-based company, which competes with Nvidia in the high-performance chip market, said the withdrawal is effective immediately. The move comes just days after Cerebras announced it had raised $1.1 billion in fresh funding led by Fidelity Management & Research and Atreides Management, giving it a valuation of $8.1 billion.
Analysts say the decision is likely strategic rather than a reflection of weak market sentiment. Josef Schuster, CEO of IPO research firm IPOX, noted that given the company’s recent capital raise, it is unsurprising that it would delay a public listing. “We believe this is a company-specific decision and does not indicate any weakness in the U.S. IPO market, which remains exceptionally strong,” Schuster said.
Cerebras’ IPO journey has faced previous hurdles. Its planned Nasdaq debut last year was delayed following a U.S. national security review of a $335 million investment by Abu Dhabi-based AI company G42. CEO Andrew Feldman, however, reaffirmed that the company still intends to go public at a later date. The latest funding round brought in new investors, including Tiger Global, Valor Equity Partners, and 1789 Capital, where former U.S. President Donald Trump’s son is a partner.
Founded in 2016, Cerebras Systems builds specialized chips and computing systems designed to accelerate the training and operation of large artificial intelligence models. Its technology has positioned it as a major challenger to Nvidia’s dominance in the AI chip industry, a market expected to expand rapidly as demand for generative AI continues to surge.