Cerebras Systems has withdrawn its IPO paperwork after raising $1 billion in fresh funding, a move the US AI chipmaker described as an administrative step, not a retreat from its plans to go public.
The decision follows months of heightened scrutiny over Cerebras’s close relationship with G42, the Abu Dhabi-backed technology group that is both an investor and a key customer. G42 purchased about 1% of Cerebras for $40 million in 2021 and has $1.43 billion in long-term purchase commitments. It accounted for 87% of the company’s revenue in the first half of 2024, a customer concentration flagged as a material risk in its IPO filings.
CEO and co-founder Andrew Feldman said on LinkedIn that “withdrawing and refiling will have no impact on the planned timing of our IPO,” signaling that the listing remains on track once the company updates its prospectus to reflect its new financial position.
Cerebras’s $1 billion round — announced September 30 and backed by Fidelity Management & Research Company, Tiger Global Management and 1789 Capital — lifted its valuation to $8 billion. The company plans to use the capital to expand US manufacturing, scale its data center footprint, and accelerate development of its next-generation wafer-scale AI chips.
G42’s role as both investor and anchor customer has added complexity to Cerebras’s path to market at a time when US regulators are sharpening oversight of Gulf tech partnerships. Washington has previously limited the UAE’s access to advanced AI chips over concerns that the technology could be indirectly accessed by China.
Cerebras raised $250 million in 2021 from Alpha Wave Ventures, the Abu Dhabi Growth Fund, and G42 at a $4 billion valuation. The company’s wafer-scale architecture is designed to compete with Nvidia, which controls an estimated 95 percent of the AI chip market.
