Cerebras beats on Q3, raises its outlook and signs Microsoft as a cloud customer
What happened? Cerebras Systems, the Nasdaq-listed AI chipmaker, reported third-quarter core revenue of $230.9 million, up 70% year on year and ahead of the $214.7 million analysts expected, CNBC reported. Reported revenue was about $211 million, up 55%. The company guided fourth-quarter core revenue to $310 million to $330 million, well above estimates, and raised its full-year 2026 core revenue outlook to $940 million to $960 million. The shares jumped as much as 18% in after-hours trading.
The Microsoft deal: CEO Andrew Feldman said Microsoft signed a cloud inference agreement in October, making it Cerebras's third hyperscaler customer after AWS and Oracle. Revenue from the deal is expected to start in the first quarter of 2027; the company gave few details on its size and said it would share more next year.
Context: Growth is shifting to cloud: core cloud and services revenue rose 272% to about $145 million, while direct chip sales fell, according to the WSJ. Cerebras said it now has 700 MW of data centre capacity under contract and expects revenue to triple in 2027, but data centre delays have put parts of its OpenAI contract behind schedule.
Image: Cerebras CEO Andrew Feldman at Collision 2024. Photo: Ramsey Cardy/Collision, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
