- Cerebras Systems shares surged 6.3% in pre-open trading to $176.90 after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman publicly described the AI chipmaker as "a close partner" with deep collaboration on inference speed.
- The rally reversed a roughly 20% selloff sparked by a SemiAnalysis report claiming OpenAI's GPT-6.1 Sol "Ultrafast" mode would be powered by Nvidia GPUs rather than Cerebras hardware; CBRS had traded near its 52-week low of $160.81.
- Selling pressure had been compounded by the expiration of post-IPO lockup restrictions, making roughly 19.4 million additional shares eligible for sale.
- Mizuho reiterated its Outperform rating and $300 price target, projecting the fast inference total addressable market could reach $550 billion by 2030, about 20% of all AI workloads; all 11 analysts covering CBRS carry a Buy or higher rating.
- The OpenAI relationship is central to the Cerebras thesis: a multiyear agreement valued at over $10 billion for deploying wafer-scale systems, with Cerebras a launch partner for GPT-5.6 Sol.