US chip start-up Cerebras to raise $5.5 billion in IPO

US chip startup Cerebras Systems announced that its listing on Wall Street will start Thursday at $185 per share, raising about $5.5 billion, the largest IPO so far this year in the United States. 

Taking into account all shares already outstanding, including stock options and other financial instruments, the Sunnyvale, California-based company is valued at over $55 billion. 

Cerebras has twice raised its target price for the listing on Nasdaq electronic exchange. 

The company initially targeted a price range of $115 to $125 per share, before raising it to between $150 and $160, and finally settling at $185.

It plans to issue 30 million shares, with an over-allotment option for an additional 4.5 million shares, according to a Cerebras statement released Wednesday evening. 

Raising $5.55 billion will place Cerebras among the 15 largest initial public offerings ever completed on Wall Street, and the largest since medical equipment group Medline in December. 

Cerebras specialises in giant processors, also known as wafer-scale systems. They are viewed as suitable for the development and use of AI models. 

After three years of sustained growth following the release of OpenAI's ChatGPT, the AI infrastructure market has exploded this year.

In January, OpenAI committed to acquiring a massive quantity of Cerebras processors, a contract valued at over $10 billion. 

As part of this agreement, Cerebras granted OpenAI warrants — derivative products that can be converted into shares under certain conditions. If all the conditions are met, OpenAI could control more than 10 percent of Cerebras's capital.