Cerebras IPO mints two billionaires, sets stage for potential AI wave

Andrew Feldman, co-founder and chief executive officer of Cerebras Systems Inc., holds the Wafer Scale Engine 3 AI chip during the company's initial public offering (IPO) at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York, US, on Thursday, May 14, 2026. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | The tech billionaires club has two new members after Cerebras' blockbuster IPO lifted the chipmaker's market cap close to $100 billion. Roughly a decade after starting Cerebras, Andrew Feldman, the company's CEO, and technology chief Sean Lie, own stakes worth $3.2 billion and $1.7 billion, respectively. Cerebras shares soared 68% in their Nasdaq debut on Thursday, capping a remarkable rise for a company that withdrew its prior IPO filing seven months ago, opting instead to raise private capital. In February, Cerebras was valued at $23.1 billion by investors, and now the company is riding a fresh wave of demand for AI chips that's sent shares of Intel , Advanced Micro Devices and Micron soaring. Feldman told CNBC's "Squawk Box" that the company reached a level of maturity where it "made sense to access the public markets." "We have tremendous opportunities for growth, and this was the right way to fund our growth," Feldman said, after his company raised $5.55 billion in the largest IPO of the year. Stock Chart Icon Stock chart icon Stock chart for Cerebras over a period of 5 days. …