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AI chipmaker Cerebras files for IPO

cnbc.com

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Re: AI chipmaker Cerebras files for IPO

#2

Post by will-burner »

This is the first I've heard of Cerebras Systems.

From the article

>Cerebras had a net loss of $66.6 million in the first six months of 2024 on $136.4 million in sales, according to the filing.

That doesn't sound very good.

What makes them think they can compete with Nvidia, and why IPO right now?

Are they trying to get government money to make chip fabs like Intel or something?

Re: AI chipmaker Cerebras files for IPO

#3

Post by will-burner »

will-burner wrote: post #2

This is the first I've heard of Cerebras Systems. From the article >Cerebras had a net loss of $66.6 million in the first six months of 2024 on $136.4 million in sales, according to the filing. That doesn't sound very good. What makes them think they can compete with Nvidia, and why IPO right now? Are they trying to get government money to make chip fabs like Intel or something?

> Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company makes the Cerebras chips. Cerebrus warned investors that any possible supply chain disruptions may hurt the company.

They get their chips from the same company that Nvidia does.

Re: AI chipmaker Cerebras files for IPO

#4

Post by ericd »

will-burner wrote: post #2

This is the first I've heard of Cerebras Systems. From the article >Cerebras had a net loss of $66.6 million in the first six months of 2024 on $136.4 million in sales, according to the filing. That doesn't sound very good. What makes them think they can compete with Nvidia, and why IPO right now? Are they trying to get government money to make chip fabs like Intel or something?

Compare it to the same period last year ($8.7M in sales). That’s a pretty solid growth rate.

Re: AI chipmaker Cerebras files for IPO

#7

Post by est31 »

will-burner wrote: post #2

This is the first I've heard of Cerebras Systems. From the article >Cerebras had a net loss of $66.6 million in the first six months of 2024 on $136.4 million in sales, according to the filing. That doesn't sound very good. What makes them think they can compete with Nvidia, and why IPO right now? Are they trying to get government money to make chip fabs like Intel or something?

Nvidia's moat is real but not big enough that one can't surpass it with a lot of engineering. It's not the only company making AI accelerators, and this has been the case for many years already. The first TPU was introduced in 2015. Nvidia has just managed to get a leader position in the race.

Re: AI chipmaker Cerebras files for IPO

#8

Post by alephnerd »

will-burner wrote: post #3
will-burner wrote: post #2

This is the first I've heard of Cerebras Systems. From the article >Cerebras had a net loss of $66.6 million in the first six months of 2024 on $136.4 million in sales, according to the filing. That doesn't sound very good. What makes them think they can compete with Nvidia, and why IPO right now? Are they trying to get government money to make chip fabs like Intel or something?

> Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company makes the Cerebras chips. Cerebrus warned investors that any possible supply chain disruptions may hurt the company. They get their chips from the same company that Nvidia does.

They both contract TSMC to fabricate their chips.

The actual design and R&D is still done by Nvidia, Cerebras, AMD, Groq, etc.

Think of TSMC like Kinko's - they do printing and fabrication which is very low margins.

The main PMF for Cerebras is in simulations, drug discovery, and ofc ML.

As I've mentioned before on HN, Public-Private Drug Discovery and NatLab research has been a major driver for HPC over the past 20 years.

Re: AI chipmaker Cerebras files for IPO

#9

Post by ericd »

metadat wrote: post #5

Does cerebras make gaming GPUs, or is it enterprise-only?

Very solidly enterprise-only. They make single chips that take an entire wafer, use something like 10 kilowatts, and have liquid cooling channels that go through the chip. Systems are >$1M.
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