Nvidia (NVDA) rival Cerebras Systems is eyeing another shot at going public, and this time, the timing seems deliberate.
According to Reuters, the AI chip startup is set to refile for a U.S. IPO as early as next week, with a target debut in Q2 2026.
What’s interesting is that the eye-opening move comes months after Cerebras pulled its previous filing. The decision was based on a national security review linked to a foreign investor, along with growing scrutiny on where U.S. AI technology ends up.
To be fair, this isn’t a story that’s unfamiliar in any way.
You have another fast-growing AI semiconductor business that’s looking to capitalize on surging demand. However, with Cerebras, the picture gets slightly more complicated.
The financials we’ve seen are dated, and the company’s growth appears to be heavily concentrated in a single customer, with a regulatory backdrop that remains unclear.
So, this IPO hinges less on clever chip design and more on whether public-market investors are comfortable with the risks that come with it.
Nvidia rival quietly lines up for a 2026 debutPhoto by I-HWA CHENG on Getty Images
Cerebras takes a more novel approach than Nvidia does with its GPUs.
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Instead of linking thousands of chips, it develops a single, wafer-scale processor, which is essentially one massive chip, that’s about the size of an dinner plate.
In doing so, its latest WSE-3 packs quite the punch, with nearly 4 trillion transistors and 900,000 cores onto a single piece of silicon.
That gives Cerebras a significant edge, especially in handling massive AI models that can be trained on a single system or spread seamlessly across multiple GPUs, thereby reducing complexity and bottlenecks.
That design prioritizes less versatility and more robust performance.
Cerebras Systems is apparently getting ready to test the public markets again.
According to Reuters, the AI chip startup is targeting a Q2 2026 debut, as it looks to ride the red-hot demand for specialized AI silicon.
It’s important to note that this is a comeback attempt.
Cerebras withdrew its previous IPO filing in late 2025, following a whopping $1+ billion funding round with U.S. national-security reviews linked to Abu Dhabi’s G42.
Now it’s coming back with a bang and targeting a much higher price. Cerebras was valued at a massive $8 billion in 2024, and reports suggest that the valuation has “nearly doubled” since, with IPO discussion moving into the tens of billions.
What investors will be weighing:
Whether the G42 review is behind the company.
If “tens of billions” is a justified price tag for an unproven niche AI hardware player.
What the IPO signals about AI investing, even if Nvidia’s lead remains intact.
Cerebras’ planned IPO hasn’t been without its controversies.
Front and center is its connection to the G42, with the Abu Dhabi–based AI firm investing a massive $335 million, leading to a U.S. national-security review.
The concerns were primarily due to the use of non-U.S. intermediaries to route advanced American AI technology toward China.
Reuters specifically pointed to concerns over G42’s links with Huawei in the past, and the review played a critical role in delaying Cerebras’ IPO plans.
Also, G42 was Cerebras’ primary customer.
In the first half of 2024, Cerebras reported $136.4 million in sales, skyrocketing 1,474% year over year.
However, nearly $119.1 million, or 87%, came from G42. Moreover, the company disclosed that discounts linked to G42’s high-volume orders weighed down gross margin to 41.1% from 50.5%.
Since then, though, Cerebras has obtained CFIUS clearance, and G42 is no longer listed as an investor, a change that should prove critical when we have the latest financials.
Nvidia still dominates the AI accelerator market, with an estimated 80–90% share.
However, the size of the opportunity continues to draw challengers from virtually every corner of the tech space.
Established chipmakers and cloud giants continue to seek alternatives as customers seek greater diversification in terms of supply and cost.
AMD is clearly the most credible near-term rival, led by its potent MI300 and upcoming MI400 accelerators, supercharged by deals from OpenAI, Microsoft, and Meta Platforms.
Intel is looking to re-enter the race and make its mark with Gaudi2, along with its future Falcon Shores platform.
Qualcomm is also planning to launch data-center AI accelerators in 2026–27, while hyperscalers like Google, Amazon, and Meta are also building in-house chips to reduce their reliance on Nvidia.
On top of that, China has mounted a response too, on the back of tariffs and other export controls. Startups, including Moore Threads, Biren Technology, and Cambricon Technologies, are all looking to replace Nvidia domestically, while Huawei, Baidu, and Alibaba are manufacturing custom silicon.
Europe’s cautionary tale is Graphcore, which was once valued at a whopping $2.8 billion before being acquired by SoftBank for nearly £400 million back in 2024.
