AI chipmaker Cerebras soars 90% in year’s biggest IPO so far

Artificial intelligenceAI chipmaker Cerebras soars 90% in year’s biggest IPO so farThe explosion in artificial intelligence stocks has been a primary driver of the overall stock market’s performance this year.Listen to this article with a free account00:0000:00Cerebras Systems Inc. signage during the company's initial public offering at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York City on Thursday.Michael Nagle / Bloomberg via Getty ImagesShareAdd NBC News to GoogleMay 14, 2026, 1:21 PM EDTBy Steve KopackArtificial intelligence chipmaker Cerebras surged 90% in its trading debut, setting the bar for the biggest initial public stock offering of the year so far, and the latest sign that AI euphoria is far from over.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.The company, founded only in 2015, is now worth more than $75 billion. Cerebras shares began trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange at $350 per share, 90% higher than $185, which is what the company priced its shares at Wednesday night. The price surge also comes after the company already upped its initial public offering.Cerebras has ties to many of the highest-flying names in artificial intelligence, such as Amazon Web Services and OpenAI. But the company is challenging market leader Nvidia, whose chips AI firms can’t get enough of. That’s caused investors to push Nvidia to a more than $5.6 trillion market value, as of Thursday.The company will also be facing tough competition from AMD and Intel, the later of which the U.S. government has a stake in. AI enthusiasm has caused Intel shares to rally in recent months and the company’s shares are now up more than 215% for the year. The U.S. government’s stake has also increased in value by more than 470%, to about $50 billion. However, that gain is only on paper until the shares are sold, which they have not been. Investor demand for Cerebras looks to be just as hot. Banks running the stock offering received orders for m...