Cerebras Raises $1.1B While Still Private a Year After IPO Filing
▼ Summary
– Cerebras Systems raised $1.1 billion in Series G funding, valuing the AI hardware company at $8.1 billion despite previously planning a 2025 IPO.
– The funding round was co-led by Fidelity and Atreides Management with participation from Tiger Global and other investors, bringing total funding to nearly $2 billion.
– The company experienced explosive growth tied to its AI inference services launched in August 2024, which generated overwhelming demand for using AI models to generate outputs.
– Cerebras will use the new funding to expand its data center footprint and U.S. manufacturing hubs, having already opened five new data centers in 2025.
– The company’s IPO was delayed due to regulatory reviews by CFIUS regarding a $335 million investment from Abu Dhabi’s G42 and unfilled positions during President Trump’s term, though it still plans to go public.
In a significant move for the AI hardware sector, Cerebras Systems has secured $1.1 billion in a Series G funding round, reaching an $8.1 billion valuation. This development arrives even though the company previously aimed for a public listing by 2025. The funding was co-led by Fidelity and Atreides Management, with additional investment from Tiger Global, Valor Equity Partners, and 1789 Capital.
Founded in 2015, Cerebras specializes in designing advanced chips, hardware systems, and cloud services tailored for artificial intelligence applications. Over its ten-year history, the firm has now accumulated nearly $2 billion in total funding. Its last major financing event was a $250 million Series F round in 2021, which valued the company at over $4 billion.
Andrew Feldman, co-founder and CEO of Cerebras, attributed this new capital influx to a year of remarkable expansion. He highlighted that the company’s growth is largely driven by its AI inference services, launched in August 2024. These services involve using trained AI models to produce real-time outputs, and customer interest has been exceptionally strong.
Feldman explained that by the second quarter of 2024, the team recognized a pivotal shift. AI technology had matured to a point of genuine utility, sparking a surge in demand for inference capabilities. In response, Cerebras redirected resources, expanded its workforce, and introduced its inference cloud. The market reception exceeded all expectations.
To support this expanding operations, Cerebras has already opened five new data centers in 2025. These facilities are located in Dallas, Oklahoma City, Santa Clara, and other strategic areas. Additional sites are under development in Montreal and parts of Europe. Feldman noted that the new funding will primarily fuel further data center expansion and enhance U.S. manufacturing hubs, alongside supporting unspecified technological advancements.
This substantial private fundraising follows Cerebras’ initial public offering filing exactly one year prior, on September 30, 2024. The IPO process encountered regulatory hurdles shortly after submission. A review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States initially delayed the offering, prompted by a $335 million investment from G42, an Abu Dhabi-based cloud and AI company. Further delays occurred in early 2025 due to vacant positions within CFIUS at the start of President Donald Trump’s term.
Despite these setbacks, Feldman reaffirmed the company’s intention to eventually go public. He declined to provide a specific timeline but described the current strategy as a typical approach for late-stage startups. By raising a significant round from investors who primarily operate in public markets, Cerebras is positioning itself for a future listing. Feldman emphasized selecting partners who can offer support not only for this round but also in the years ahead, underscoring the firm’s clear ambition to become a publicly traded entity.
(Source: TechCrunch)
