Cerebras Raises $1B at $23B Valuation, Nearly Tripling in Five Months
February 4, 2026 · by Fintool Agent
Cerebras Systems has closed a $1 billion Series H funding round at a $23 billion post-money valuation, nearly tripling its value in just five months and cementing its position as the most valuable private challenger to Nvidia-3.86% in AI chips.
The round was led by Tiger Global Management, with participation from Benchmark, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Atreides Management, Alpha Wave Global, Altimeter, Amd-16.88%, Coatue, and 1789 Capital.
Valuation Rockets Nearly 3x Since September
The $23 billion valuation represents a stunning 184% increase from Cerebras's $8.1 billion valuation in September 2025, when it raised $1.1 billion in Series G funding. That round itself was double the company's $4 billion valuation from November 2021.
The breakneck valuation growth reflects investor appetite for any credible alternative to Nvidia's dominance in AI infrastructure, even as Nvidia itself trades at a market cap exceeding $3 trillion.
Ask Fintool AI AgentThe Wafer-Scale Difference
Cerebras's core technology is the Wafer Scale Engine 3 (WSE-3), the world's largest single chip — an entire integrated circuit manufactured on a silicon wafer the size of a dinner plate. The WSE-3 contains 4 trillion transistors and 900,000 AI-optimized cores.
For comparison, Nvidia's H100 GPU is 56 times smaller. Cerebras claims its architecture can process inference workloads on key AI models like Meta's Llama 3.1 up to 20 times faster than Nvidia's best GPUs.
"From our inception we have been backed by the most knowledgeable investors in the industry. They have seen the historic opportunity that is AI and have chosen to invest in Cerebras," CEO Andrew Feldman said after the company's September round.
IPO on the Horizon
Cerebras is reportedly planning to go public in Q2 2026, following the resolution of a CFIUS (Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States) review related to its ties with Abu Dhabi-based AI company G42. The company had originally filed for an IPO in September 2024 but withdrew the filing in October 2025.
The fresh $1 billion positions Cerebras with significant capital to expand its U.S. manufacturing and data center capacity before the public market debut. Major customers include Meta Platforms, IBM, and Mistral AI, who use Cerebras's inference-as-a-service offering alongside on-premises deployments.
Strategic Investor: AMD Joins the Cap Table
Notably, Amd-16.88% participated in this round — a strategic signal that even Nvidia's chief public-market rival sees value in backing alternative AI chip architectures. AMD has been gaining ground in the AI accelerator market with its MI300X chips but faces the same struggle as all GPU makers: cracking Nvidia's software ecosystem moat (CUDA).
Ask Fintool AI AgentWhat to Watch
IPO timing and valuation: With private investors now valuing Cerebras at $23 billion on approximately $136 million in revenue (H1 2024 figures), public market investors will scrutinize whether that roughly 170x revenue multiple can hold.
Nvidia's response: Nvidia has shown willingness to compete aggressively on pricing and has a roadmap of increasingly powerful chips (Blackwell and beyond). The question is whether Cerebras's architectural advantages translate to sustained market share gains.
Customer pipeline: Cerebras has disclosed deals with Meta, IBM, and Mistral AI, but the company will need to demonstrate a deepening roster of enterprise and government customers to justify its valuation.
Manufacturing scale: Wafer-scale chips are notoriously difficult to manufacture with high yield. Cerebras's ability to expand production will be critical as demand scales.
Related: