By Stephen Nellis and Juby Babu
June 23 (Reuters) - Cerebras Systems on Tuesday forecast 2026 revenue that beat Wall Street estimates, but shares sank as the company's gross margin forecast confirmed it will be an uphill battle to challenge AI chip leader Nvidia in key markets.
Cerebras shares fell 7.8% in extended trading.
Cerebras, which raised $5.5 billion in an initial public offering last month, is focused on inference, the process by which AI systems respond to user queries, and has tied much
of its growth to OpenAI, including a $20 billion multiyear deal under which the ChatGPT creator will deploy 750 megawatts of Cerebras chips.
Cerebras forecast full-year 2026 adjusted revenue of $855 million to $865 million, above analyst estimates of $823.90 million, according to LSEG data.
But the company also forecast gross margins of 38% to 41% for 2026, down from 45% gross margins it reported for the first quarter. While those margins were above analyst estimates of 29.58%, they were far below those of rivals such as Nvidia, whose gross margins are in the mid-70%, and Advanced Micro Devices, whose gross margins are in the mid-50% range.
Ben Bajarin, CEO of technology consulting firm Creative Strategies, said Cerebras' approach, which involves making some of the world's largest chips, is likely pressuring its gross margins because such large chips are difficult to manufacture.
The company reported revenue of $193.4 million for the first quarter, compared with $99.5 million in the same period a year ago. Cerebras said its adjusted net loss for the first quarter was $2.5 million, narrower than analyst estimates of an adjusted loss of $36.75 million.
For the second quarter, Cerebras forecast adjusted sales and gross margins of $194 million and 36% to 38%, respectively. Both were above estimates of $174.34 million and 24.6%, according to LSEG data.
(Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City and Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by Sahal Muhammed and Matthew Lewis)
