The AI chip trade is getting a new public-market name this week. 

Cerebras Systems is expected to price its IPO on Wednesday, with shares potentially beginning to trade on Nasdaq under the ticker CBRS as early as Thursday, subject to final pricing and the registration statement becoming effective. 

The timing gives investors another way to bet on the AI infrastructure boom beyond Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA), Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) and Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO). 

Nvidia remains the dominant name in AI accelerators, AMD is trying to gain share with its Instinct lineup and Broadcom has become a major custom-chip beneficiary as hyperscalers seek alternatives to an all-Nvidia strategy.

New Kid on the AI Block

Cerebras brings a different flavor to the trade.

The company is built around wafer-scale AI chips and cloud services, positioning itself as a pure-play AI infrastructure name at a time when public investors have had few new semiconductor IPOs with direct AI exposure.

Demand appears to be building quickly.

Reuters reported Cerebras is considering raising its IPO price range to $150 to $160 per share, up from $115 to $125, and increasing the offering size to 30 million shares from 28 million shares. 

The report also said the IPO has drawn orders for more than 20 times the available shares ahead of its expected May 13 pricing. 

Cerebras has a marquee customer story: OpenAI signed a deal with Cerebras worth more than $10 billion, tied to 750 megawatts of low-latency AI compute capacity coming online in phases through 2028. 

That gives Cerebras validation from one of the biggest buyers of AI compute, but it also raises a familiar question for investors: how much growth is already priced in?

The risk side remains important. Cerebras previously faced delays tied to a U.S. national security review involving Abu Dhabi-based G42's investment, Reuters reported last year. 

That makes the IPO more than a chip story; it is also a customer concentration, export-control and geopolitical-risk story.

If the offering prices strongly, CBRS could quickly become the next ticker traders use to express the AI chip trade.

Photo: Samuel Boivin / Shutterstock