AI chipmaker Cerebras Systems recently secured $1 billion in new funding, boosting its valuation to $23 billion. This represents an almost threefold jump from its $8.1 billion valuation just six months prior, positioning it as a significant competitor to Nvidia.
Tiger Global spearheaded the investment round, but a substantial portion of the new capital, at least $225 million, was provided by Benchmark Capital, an early supporter of Cerebras. This information comes from an individual with knowledge of the transaction.
Benchmark’s initial investment in Cerebras, a decade-old startup, was in 2016 when it led a $27 million Series A round. Given Benchmark’s policy of keeping its funds below $450 million, the firm established two distinct entities, both named ‘Benchmark Infrastructure,’ as revealed by regulatory documents. These entities were reportedly formed solely to finance the Cerebras investment, according to a source close to the deal.
Benchmark chose not to provide a statement.
Cerebras distinguishes itself through the immense physical size of its processors. Its flagship product, the Wafer Scale Engine chip, unveiled in 2024, spans about 8.5 inches per side and integrates 4 trillion transistors onto a single silicon component. This chip utilizes nearly a complete 300-millimeter silicon wafer, which are typically segmented into much smaller, thumbnail-sized chips for conventional semiconductor manufacturing. Cerebras, however, leverages almost the entire wafer.
This design features 900,000 specialized cores operating concurrently, enabling the system to execute AI computations without the typical data transfer delays between individual chips, a common limitation in standard GPU clusters. According to the company, this architecture accelerates AI inference tasks by over 20 times compared to rival solutions.
This new funding arrives as Sunnyvale, California-based Cerebras intensifies its progress in the competitive AI infrastructure market. Last month, Cerebras entered into a multi-year agreement, reportedly valued at more than $10 billion, to supply OpenAI with 750 megawatts of computing capacity. This collaboration, slated to continue until 2028, is intended to boost OpenAI’s ability to provide quicker responses to intricate AI questions. Notably, OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, is also an investor in Cerebras.
Cerebras asserts that its AI-specific systems, powered by its proprietary chips, outperform Nvidia’s offerings in speed.
Cerebras’ journey toward an initial public offering has faced challenges due to its association with G42, a UAE-based AI company that generated 87% of Cerebras’ revenue in the first half of 2024. G42’s past connections to Chinese tech firms prompted a national security investigation by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. This review delayed Cerebras’ original IPO schedule and led to the withdrawal of a prior filing in early 2025. However, by late last year, G42 was no longer listed among Cerebras’ investors, paving the way for a renewed IPO effort.
The company is currently planning its public market entry for the second quarter of 2026, as reported by Reuters.