NEW YORK: Cerebras Systems Inc is seeking to raise as much as US$4bil in its initial public offering (IPO), according to sources, as demand for the artificial intelligence chipmaker and data centre operator’s shares heats up.
The Sunnyvale, California-based company is targeting a valuation of about US$40bil, the sources said.
Cerebras plans to begin formal marketing for the IPO, the sources added.
The banks on the deal have already received indications of interest in excess of US$10bil worth of potential orders, the sources said.
It comes as shares of semiconductor stocks have soared, with the benchmark Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index rising 50% this year.
Details of the listing including size, valuation and timing could change, the sources pointed out.
A Cerebras representative declined to comment.
The new target represents an increase from Cerebras’ earlier plans.
The company was seeking to raise about US$2bil in the IPO, sources said in March. Cerebras, which had lodged confidential paperwork months after withdrawing its previous registration, filed publicly last month.
Investors and megacap technology companies are rapidly accelerating their multibillion-dollar investments into building artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure.
Cerebras is part of a growing cohort seeking to challenge market leader Nvidia Corp with giant chips that can handle massive amounts of data in one go.
Chief executive officer Andrew Feldman has said that Cerebras’ hardware runs AI models much faster than Nvidia. — Bloomberg
