Cerebras Systems began trading on Thursday but saw a decline on Friday. The AI chip company raised $5.55 billion in the largest U.S. tech IPO since Uber’s 2019 IPO. Shares were priced at $185 and increased by 68% to close at $331.07 on the first day, giving the company a market value of about $95 billion. On Friday, the stock decreased 10% as initial interest subsided and investors examined the company further. Here are the factors contributing to the selloff, along with the concerns being raised.
Cerebras builds very large AI chips using an entire silicon wafer, unlike most chipmakers, who use smaller designs. Its main product, the Wafer Scale Engine 3, is made to train and run AI models faster than regular graphics processors. It is especially focused on tasks where AI models interact with users in real time. The company says its chips are faster than Nvidia’s GPUs for some uses.
Some experts remain cautious. Analysts at D.A. Davidson described the product as niche before the IPO. They noted that the technology is noteworthy, but the wafer-scale method is still new and less flexible than other AI chip designs. The main concern is not the product’s function, but how widely it can be adopted in the AI hardware market compared to more flexible GPU-based options.
The IPO created two new billionaires. CEO Andrew Feldman now has a stake worth about $3.2 billion, and CTO Sean Lie’s stake is valued at around $1.7 billion. Feldman told CNBC that the company was ready for the public markets and that the IPO would help fund future growth.
Friday’s drop follows a pattern seen in other big tech IPOs, where early gains are often followed by profit-taking as lock-up periods end and institutions adjust their holdings.
