Episode summary
AI Chipmaker Cerebras Climbs 68% After Year’s Biggest IPO | Bloomberg Intelligence
Bloomberg Intelligence
· · Hosts: Paul Sweeney, Scarlet Fu · Guests: Bailey Lipschultz, Anurag Rana, Sid Philip, Randall Williams
Summary
Cerebras’ trading debut set the tone for a discussion about investor appetite for artificial intelligence infrastructure. The company priced at $185, surged as high as the low $300s, and raised more than $5.5 billion, which the guests said could make it the largest U.S. chip IPO ever. The argument was that investors are willing to pay up for AI beneficiaries if they believe the market for training and inference chips can keep expanding, even though Cerebras is already valued at about $65 billion on roughly $500 million of trailing revenue.
The episode then shifted to software, where Figma’s better-than-expected outlook was presented as evidence that AI-exposed software names can still reaccelerate if they show real product traction. The guest said Figma is benefiting from charging users for AI features, while warning that larger peers such as Salesforce and Workday may find it harder to prove the same turnaround. Apple’s partnership with OpenAI was described as fraying, with OpenAI seen as trying to compete more directly with Apple even as Apple broadens its model relationships.
Later, the conversation turned to Boeing’s apparent China order, which sounded promising but lacked crucial details on aircraft type, size, and timing, leaving the market underwhelmed. The final segment covered sports business, including Patrick Dumont’s plans for the Mavericks, Silver Lake executive Egon Durban’s growing stake in the Raiders, and the commercial buildup around the 2026 World Cup in the U.S.
Key takeaways
- Cerebras’ IPO was priced at $185 and climbed to above $300, underscoring investor enthusiasm for AI-chip exposure.
- The guest said Cerebras had more than $10 billion of demand before launch and could become the biggest U.S. chip IPO ever.
- Figma’s outlook beat estimates, and the guest said early traction from charging for AI features is helping the growth story.
- The guest argued that larger software names like Salesforce and Workday will have a harder time using one or two big AI wins to reaccelerate growth.
- Boeing’s reported China deal was seen as positive but incomplete because the order details remain unclear, keeping investors cautious.
Notable quotes
“they had $10 billion of demand before it formally launched, which is not something you see”
“for Boeing, this was the moment that they would get their next big break from China”
How the episode opens
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I want to talk about the new issue market because we had a big IPO this week. Cerebrus, I think, is kind of how we figured out how to pronounce it. Uh, — We've we've said it every which way at this point.
Bailey's advice to me yesterday. I went up he was on TV afterwards and I said, "How do you pronounce this?" Cuz I got to do the story. He goes, "Just pronounce it both ways. That way they can't accuse you."
You say it correctly. As long as you say it correctly one time, that counts. That's what I believe.
Okay. Cerebr. Anyway, they went public yesterday.
$185 was the IPO price. It traded up to like three over 300 uh bucks. um just extraordinary trading off uh 1 or 2% here this morning.
Um Billy Lipertz uh he covers he joins us here. He covers all this IPO stuff and all the equity markets. So Bailey, if you're looking to go public, this was a good first one to come out the door.
I mean, if you're thinking about SpaceX and Anthropic and all those other ones.
Yeah, it really does kind of serve as a quite large uh appetizer, if you will, in terms of just the sheer size of it. Again, north of $5.5 billion. I don't know if we've confirmed that they've exercised the green shoe. You have to imagine that happened almost instantaneously. So, this would be the largest chip IPO of all time here in the US.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- ai chips ipo
- ai data center demand
- figma revenue guidance
- apple openai partnership legal risk
- boeing china order
Companies and tickers mentioned
- AAPL
- BA
- Cerebras Systems
- Figma
- Apple
- OpenAI
- Boeing
- Silver Lake
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Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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