AI Chipmaker Cerebras Systems Seeks $4.8 Billion in Upsized IPO

Summary

Bloomberg Intelligence Podcast — Episode Summary

Episode Title: AI Chipmaker Cerebras Systems Seeks $4.8 Billion in Upsized IPO
Episode Date: May 11, 2026
Hosts: Paul Sweeney & Scarlet Fu
Featured Guests: Carmen Reinke (Bloomberg), Katerina Sarajeva (Bloomberg News), Sam Fazelli (Bloomberg Intelligence)

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Episode Overview

This episode focuses on three major stories affecting Wall Street and markets:

1. The blockbuster IPO of AI chipmaker Cerebras Systems, its unusual pricing, and market implications
2. Federal Reserve leadership transition, with Chair Jerome Powell stepping down and the historical and political context
3. Pharma sector uncertainty, focusing on anticipated changes at the FDA and current biotech challenges

Throughout, the discussion is data-driven, analytical, and incorporates direct insight from industry analysts and journalists.

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1. Cerebras Systems’ Blockbuster AI IPO

[01:46–03:48]

Main Points:

• Company Profile: Cerebras Systems is an AI chipmaker and data center operator, a sector with massive demand amid ongoing chip shortages and the data center boom.
• IPO Details: Cerebras upsized its IPO to seek nearly $5 billion, marking it as an “oversubscribed monster IPO.” Previously, the company withdrew an earlier listing, but now returns with increased investor interest.
• Pricing Dynamics:
  • The expected IPO price was raised from the original $115–$125 per share to $135, and now bids are circulating at $150–$160 per share, a rarity.
  • High investor demand is cited as the primary driver for the elevated valuation.
  • Traditionally, IPOs targeted affordability for retail investors, but the rise of fractional shares has transformed buying behavior.
• Bankers: The deal is being led by Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, Barclays, and UBS.

Memorable Moments & Quotes:

• “The company has upsized its initial public offering so it's now looking to raise nearly $5 billion... This company also had applied for an IPO a few months ago and withdrawn that listing. And so they're back to the public market here.” — Carmen Reinke [01:59]
• “Now we're seeing 150, 160 each. I mean, I think there's just so much demand in this category. Right... Investors are really clamoring for more ways to play the trade.” — Carmen Reinke [02:52]
• “To be an IPO banker this year is going to be just ripping.” — Paul Sweeney [03:39]

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2. Federal Reserve Leadership Transition & Powell’s Legacy

[06:10–13:50]

Main Points:

• Jerome Powell’s Term Ends: Powell’s term as Federal Reserve Chair concludes May 15, but he will remain on the Fed Board until 2028.
• Unusual Situation: It is historically rare for an outgoing chair to remain as a board member; last seen in the late 1940s–50s.
• Powell’s Legacy:
  • Managed the Fed during the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath.
  • Criticized for both pandemic response and delays raising interest rates during inflation.
  • Seen as having fiercely defended the Fed’s independence amid political pressure.
• Political & Legal Uncertainty:
  • President Trump’s discomfort with Powell remaining at the Fed; legal proceedings and internal investigations relating to Powell’s Congressional testimony continue.
  • Supreme Court decision awaited regarding the attempted firing of Governor Lisa Cook.
• Communication Changes:
  • Powell instituted press conferences after every Fed meeting, extending Ben Bernanke’s quarterly practice.
  • He intends to take a “low-key” approach as a board member, minimizing public commentary to avoid acting as a “shadow chair.”
• Kevin Warsh as Incoming Chair:
  • Warsh is expected to seek operational and communication changes, but speed and specifics are unknown.

Memorable Moments & Quotes:

• “We've only ever seen this once before in history, and that was in the late 40s, early 50s, so it's been a long time. We don't really have a blueprint for this.” — Katerina Sarajeva [07:48]
• “Chair Bernanke started the press conferences, but they were just quarterly... Powell actually is the one that started doing them after every meeting.” — Katerina Sarajeva [10:24]
• “He said, you know, we won't be hearing from him that much... He definitely does not, you know, has said he doesn't want to be doing that [steering the committee].” — Katerina Sarajeva [11:54]

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3. Pharma & Biotech Sector Turmoil: FDA Leadership and Hantavirus

[17:06–22:54]

Main Points:

• FDA in Flux:
  • Political and organizational unrest at the FDA with expectations that President Trump may replace Commissioner Marty Makary.
  • Significant turnover at key FDA offices and high staff attrition, leading to concerns about the agency’s institutional knowledge.
  • Makary known for increasing agency transparency and pushing to shorten drug development timelines (notably via deals with AstraZeneca and Amgen).
  • He also championed increased accessibility for estrogen patches for menopausal women.
  • However, upheaval and unpredictability over regulatory decisions have frustrated some pharma/biotech companies.
• Industry Perspective:
  • Publicly, companies remain diplomatic about difficulties, but privately express concern over inconsistencies and process delays.
• Hantavirus Outbreak:
  • Outbreak linked to a cruise ship resulting in three deaths (notably including Jean Hackman's wife).
  • Virus is notably less transmissible than COVID-19, requiring extended, close contact.
  • Effective quarantine and robust CDC action are necessary, with a warning about viral mutation risks.

Memorable Moments & Quotes:

• “When you get flux and they fired, I don't know, 3,000, 3,500 individuals...that's a lot of old time knowledge that's left the agency.” — Sam Fazelli [17:52]
• “He wants to make animal testing less required. He wants to get drug development timelines shortened...but there's been all this upheaval and issues with not knowing exactly what to expect.” — Sam Fazelli [19:36]
• “If you look at what companies are saying publicly, everything's fine. But then companies go and say, well, you know, we've had this drug discussion with the fda. This was what we were told to do. We did it, and now they say no.” — Sam Fazelli [20:56]
• “Viruses do have a nasty habit of mutating. So we should always have that little thing in the back of our mind.” — Sam Fazelli [21:54]

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Key Timestamps & Segments

| Timestamp | Segment Title/Topic | |-------------|--------------------------------------------------------| | 01:46–03:48 | Cerebras AI IPO analysis (Carmen Reinke discussion) | | 06:10–13:50 | Federal Reserve transition, Powell’s legacy (K. Sarajeva)| | 17:06–22:54 | FDA uncertainty & Hantavirus outbreak (Sam Fazelli) |

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Notable Quotes (with Attributions & Timestamps)

• “Now we're seeing 150, 160 each. Investors are really clamoring for more ways to play the trade.” — Carmen Reinke, [02:52]
• “We've only ever seen this once before in history, and that was in the late 40s, early 50s, so it's been a long time. We don't really have a blueprint for this.” — Katerina Sarajeva, [07:48]
• “He wants to make animal testing less required. He wants to get drug development timelines shortened...but there's been all this upheaval and issues with not knowing exactly what to expect.” — Sam Fazelli, [19:36]
• “Viruses do have a nasty habit of mutating. So we should always have that little thing in the back of our mind.” — Sam Fazelli, [21:54]

---

Tone and Language

The discussion is professional, analytical, and conversational. Hosts and guests balance industry jargon with clear explanations, maintaining a fact-focused but approachable tone for investors and market-watchers.

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Summary Takeaways

• AI remains a white-hot sector: Cerebras’ IPO is testament to the continued frenzied demand for AI infrastructure investments.
• Fed leadership changes are rare and consequential: Powell’s stewardship will be scrutinized for both crisis management and policy communication innovations.
• Regulatory volatility is roiling pharma/biotech: Turnover at the FDA and regulatory uncertainty are both opportunities and risk factors for industry players.
• New public health challenges underscore the need for robust agencies: Effective CDC and FDA action is critically important amid new viral threats.

This episode is essential listening for investors tracking major market shifts, regulatory risk, and the evolving intersection of technology and policy.

Transcript

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[Podcast Host / Announcer]

Bloomberg Audio Studios Podcasts Radio news. You're listening to the Bloomberg Intelligence podcast. Catch us live weekdays at 10am Eastern on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business app. Listen on demand wherever you get your podcasts or watch us live on YouTube.

[Paul Sweeney]

Bloomberg's Carmen Reinke. Carmen is going to stay with us because she wrote a very cool story on yet another monster IPO that is, you guessed it, over subscribed. Carmen, talk to us about which deal you're looking at here.

[Carmen Reinke]

Yeah, so we're looking at Sarah Bras Systems. So the thing that's interesting here, so it's an artificial artificial intelligence, chip maker, data center operator, obviously all the rage right now. We're seeing so much demand for these kinds of companies. The company has upsized its initial public offering so it's now looking to raise nearly 5 billion. This is out a few so we had reported previously there were, they had a different price that they were seeking and this company also had applied for an IPO a few months ago and withdrawn that listing. And so they're, they're back to the public market here. But yeah, really significant. It's expected to price later this week, so we'll be watching for that day as well as well as the launch of trade.

[Paul Sweeney]

What is unusual here is just the IPO price itself, why does it so high? 135. Initially it was 115 to 125. You don't see that very often.

[Carmen Reinke]

I know. Well, now we're seeing 150, 160 each. I mean, I think there's just so much demand in this category. Right. Especially we were in this huge build out. We need data centers. There's a chip shortage. So investors are really clamoring for more ways to play the trade.

[Scarlett Fu]

I guess they don't need to make sure the price is low because of what they do. They're an AI chip maker. So if you want it, you got to pay up.

[Paul Sweeney]

Yeah, but it used to be, we used to again, back in the day, you'd want to sell 20 to 25% of the deal to retail. And retail, it's a lot easier to buy a $20 stock or 25 stock just intuitively versus this now. But in today's day and age, you can buy fractional shares and that's how that gets done. I guess so.

[Scarlett Fu]

I mean, when Bitcoin's at 80,000, you think of that as kind of the dividing line. Then like an IPO at 125, 130. Okay.

[Paul Sweeney]

It's pretty. This is going to be a good, I mean, boy, to be an IPO banker this year is going to be just ripping. All right, this, this deal is being led by Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, Barclays and ubs. So pretty good.

[Scarlett Fu]

They're getting paid.

[Paul Sweeney]

Yep.

[Scarlett Fu]

All right, thank you so much. Carmen Reineke with the latest on our stock movers as well as this upcoming ipo. Stay with us. More from Bloomberg Intelligence coming up after this. If your finance team spends more time finding data than using it. If there's one entity here and one here and one here and one here. If scaling your business feels like starting over, you need the Intuit ERP. Intuit Enterprise Suite is the AI native ERP solution that's powerful, painless and proven. Learn more at intuit.com erp Support for

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youm're listening to the Bloomberg Intelligence Podcast. Catch us live weekdays at 10am Eastern on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business app Listen on demand wherever you get your podcasts or watch us live on YouTube Scarlet Fu and

[Paul Sweeney]

Paul Sweeney live here in our Bloomberg Interactive Broker Studio, streaming live on YouTube as well. Well, Jerome Powell's term as Federal Reserve chair ends on May 15th. He will, however, remain a member of the Board of governors until January 31, 2028, much to the chagrin of President Donald Trump here. And that is the subject of our Big Take story on the Bloomberg Terminal today. Katerina Sarajeva, Federal Reserve reporter for Bloomberg News. She joins us from our Houston bureau. Katerina, changes taking place at the Federal Reserve Fed Chairman Jay Powell stepping down. What is his legacy going to be, do you believe?

[Katerina Sarajeva]

Yeah, I mean, it's really interesting, right, because he's had a jam packed eight years as chair. We've seen a global pandemic and you know, all that that did to the economy, we saw the run up in inflation after that. And I think in any kind of normal that's that would have been his legacy, his response to the pandemic, but also kind of the Fed's delay and in raising rates to combat that high inflation. But now, you know, I think a lot of people are looking to what's currently going on between the Fed chair and the president as perhaps really marking Chair Powell's legacy. And that's kind of this battle to keep the Fed independent.

[Scarlett Fu]

How do you anticipate Jay Powell to behave as a Fed board member but not the Fed chair? Because he's going to stay on in his role as a member of the board, even as he hands reins as Fed Chair over to Kevin Warsh.

[Katerina Sarajeva]

Yeah, that's right. And it's an unusual step. We've only ever seen this once before in history, and that was in the late 40s, early 50s, so it's been a long time. We don't really have a blueprint for this. But what he has said, Chair Powell himself, is that he will take a very kind of low key approach to this. He won't be, you know, we won't be hearing from him a lot. He won't be trying to act as kind of a shadow chair or anything like that. So it really does seem like he wants to kind of fade into the background a little bit, obviously do his job as a governor, but not be too out in the open about it. Really let the new chair kind of take over.

[Paul Sweeney]

So, Katarina, I'm sure President Trump would like to see Jerome Powell just off the Fed altogether, but presumably that would take some Greater reassurance that Mr. Powell would not have legal liability in the future. Are we anywhere along those discussions? Are those discussions even being had?

[Katerina Sarajeva]

Yeah, I mean, I think you're right about that. And also I think he wants to see some or have some sort of assurance that the Fed itself also won't be, that there won't be further legal attacks against it. You know, that would be like the administration trying to fire someone else at the Fed. So, I mean, we have a couple things happening right now. There is an internal investigation going on that the Fed is now conducting itself into this. Powell's testimony last year before Congress. This was the reason why we had the DOJ investigation in the fall and winter, why we had these subpoenas against Powell. This is what started this whole criminal process against him that has been passed along to the Fed. So at some point we'll get a report on that and they can make criminal recommendations to the DOJ if they see fit. So I think he'll want to see that through. And then we're also waiting on a Supreme Court decision about Governor Lisa Cook, who Trump tried to fire last year. So I think he will also want to kind of see that, I'm guessing. So there's, there's a few different things kind of hanging in the air still

[Scarlett Fu]

when it comes to Powell's legacy. I think about how Ben Bernanke, his predecessor, created this precedent where there's a news conference after every decision, as opposed to after certain decisions. What did Jay Powell do that Kind of changed the way the Fed communicates with the public.

[Katerina Sarajeva]

Yeah, so, so Chair Bernanke started the press conferences, but they were just quarterly when he and when then Fed Chair Janet Yellen were doing them, Powell actually is the one that started doing them at after every meeting.

[Scarlett Fu]

I see. Thank you.

[Katerina Sarajeva]

Yeah. Which is. So that, that's definitely kind of a communication legacy for him and we'll see if that continues in the war.

[Podcast Host / Announcer]

Yeah.

[Paul Sweeney]

In addition to sitting on the Fed board, do we, has Mr. Powell said whether what he will do now that he steps down from the Fed chairmanship? Is he going to do anything outside of the Fed?

[Katerina Sarajeva]

No, and they usually don't. I mean that's a full time job. They usually, you know, no one at the Fed, none of the Fed policymakers right now have other jobs or do anything else. That's their, their sole focus. So I wouldn't expect that from him. And honestly, even if he were to fully leave or whenever he does fully leave the Fed, I don't know if we'll see him deuce anything else. You know, he's in his 70s. He has grandchildren that he talks about frequently. So I don't know if we would, if I would expect him to do a lot even after he leaves the Fed.

[Scarlett Fu]

Sounds like he's ready for retirement as he stays on the Fed board but is no longer chair. Is he going to be a prolific Fed speaker? You know, if you go to Ecogo on the Bloomberg terminal, you can see which Fed governors or Fed officials will be speaking. Do we expect Jay Powell to do any of that?

[Katerina Sarajeva]

I don't think so or not much. That's at least what he's indicated. He said, you know, we won't be hearing from him that much. So I mean, I would expect maybe every once in a while a speech and the governors do speak frequently, as you mentioned, so that is normal for them. But I think because he has, you know, this, he was or you know, is the chair soon to be stepping down. But because he has that background, I think he'll want to be careful because it might come off as him trying to steer the committee or kind of come back to that leadership role. Right. And he definitely does not, you know, has said he doesn't want to be doing that.

[Paul Sweeney]

Kevin Dwars joining, coming to Fed chair, what are the expectations now within, you know, Fed watchers about what he's going to do in his first days and weeks?

[Katerina Sarajeva]

Yeah, I mean, it's really interesting. He has spent a long time over the past few years. He's really written a lot about what he would like to change at the Fed and some of the things he would like to do, everything from how the Fed communicates and to how it thinks about inflation, the kind of models it uses, even the Fed staff. So he's said a lot of these things, but we just don't know how quickly he's going to be able to implement some of these changes or how quickly he'll want to. I mean, I imagine that he'll probably want to kind of get a lay of the land. You know, he was a fed governor but 15 years ago at this point. Right. So a long time ago. So I imagine maybe in the first few weeks we won't see a lot of change yet. And then gradually kind of over time we'll start to see something, things change, but we'll just have to see, we really don't know. We haven't gotten a lot of specifics from him about, you know, when he'll do the things he wants to do.

[Podcast Host / Announcer]

All right, good stuff.

[Scarlett Fu]

Thank you so much. Katerina Siriva is our Bloomberg News Fed reporter joining us from Houston. And I guess that gets to the point, Paul, about how the Fed is a consensus driven organization, institution. Is that by tradition or is that by, you know, by rules? Like is that kind of written?

[Paul Sweeney]

I don't, I am not sure. But I think it's, you know, there's, they oftentimes like to act with, to be union unanimous, have the unanimous votes but now we're getting some dissenters and maybe we'll get more dissenters going forward.

[Scarlett Fu]

Yeah, that's certainly been the case over the last year. The dissension, something that's normal at the bank of England, less normal right at the Fed.

[Paul Sweeney]

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[Scarlett Fu]

focus in on what's going on in the pharma space and especially, you know, with a potential change coming up. At the head of the fda, Sam Vazelli is our go to guy for all things Pharma. He is our Director of Research for Global Industries and our Senior Pharmaceutical Analyst joining us right now from London. Sam the issue at hand is the future of the FDA Commissioner Marty Makary. There's a lot of political tension and I'm not sure if it's because there's clashing with RFK's MAHA priorities or clashing with conservatives over things like the abortion pill access. But there's a lot of unrest in the fda and the reports are that President Trump will be replacing Marty Makary soon. What is the issue specifically from where you see it?

[Sam Fazelli]

Yeah, so Scarlett, I mean the FDA since the change in administration and obviously the appointment of Robert Kennedy Jr. To HHS, which oversees, because some of this has been in quite a bit of flux. The center for Drug Evaluation and Research, cda, which takes after drug approvals, looks after drug approvals. That head has changed. The center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, which takes up, looks after vaccines and gene therapies, etc. Got a new head, Vinay Prasad, that had left, almost fired which way he was and then he came back again and now he's going again. So there's been a lot of flux. And when you get flux and they fired, I don't know, 3,000, 3,500 individuals, maybe I don't have the exact number, but something in that sort of region, you know, that's this is a lot of old time knowledge that's left the agency, some refresh is pretty good. But that all of this has happened under the caretakership of Marty McCary and to all intents and purposes, the folks I talk to say that he's a perfectly knowledgeable, wonderful man. I have friends on the buy side who say to me that he's been very good to them. And then on the other hand we hear all these issues and some biotechs having issues, etc. So I wouldn't be surprised if there's something happening here.

[Scarlett Fu]

What has Marty Makary done? Well, I mean, I think about from a personal point of view, he's made estrogen patches more accessible for women who are suffering through menopause. And that's something he's written about in his book as well. What has he done that you know, will kind of service his legacy if he does end up leaving?

[Sam Fazelli]

Well, I think what was what's been good is that he's much more available for us to hear from. Do you know what I mean? He does Twitter videos, sit downs and discusses and brings ideas and wants to make animal testing less required. He wants to get drug development timelines shortened. They've done some deals with AstraZeneca and one of the pharma company Amgen, I think to try and reduce the time of drug development which gives pharma companies the ability to bring drugs faster to patients. What the problem is is that there's been all this upheaval and issues with not knowing exactly what to expect having had a deal with the fda. When you go back with your data and you know Bringing some of these things into public conversation where it shouldn't have been done. So there's pluses and minuses here, unfortunately. And what the FDA now needs is a solid, good, solid pair of hands that just gets down to the business of looking at the safety and efficacy of drugs.

[Paul Sweeney]

Sam, when you talk to your pharma companies and biotech companies, is it harder to get stuff done today under this administration? Easier about the same. Puts and takes, kind of. What's the overall view?

[Sam Fazelli]

Yeah, I would say puts and takes. It's a perfect phrase here, because it depends who you talk to. It depends whether you talk to them in public or in private. If you talk to nobody wants to upset the agency, because if you already have some trouble or some problem or some friction, why would you want to add to it? So if you look at what companies are saying publicly, everything's fine. But then companies go and say, well, you know, we've had this drug discussion with the fda. This was what we were told to do. We did it, and now they say no. So there's some of that going on, which, of course, is reality. So I think it all depends on who you talk to, when you talk to them, in what setting. You know, I think that folks wouldn't mind the change here.

[Scarlett Fu]

Before we let you go, Sam, I got to ask you about the hantavirus. That is a big issue with one of the cruise ships. We know that Jean Hackman's wife passed away from this as well. And so this is something that's kind of been percolating. But how concerned should we be about the hantavirus?

[Sam Fazelli]

Yeah. And three people have perished on the boat, which is obviously very sad with the current knowledge that we have about these viruses. And there have been other outbreaks before 1993. There have been transmissions to humans. It's a virus that doesn't transmit that easily. It's not like Covid. They just have to breathe someone's breath in a restaurant, and you catch it. This requires much closer contact, much higher duration of exposure, and quarantine is the best way to silence it. But you need a functioning CDC in the US that's on the ball. Finding people who have traveled back and isolating them and finding their contacts and isolating them. That's the best way to do it. Don't forget, though, Scarlett, viruses do have a nasty habit of mutating. So we should always have that little thing in the back of our mind that what we don't want to happen. The more you allow it to transmit to people the more chance it gets.

[Scarlett Fu]

Well said. Sam Fazelli. He is our Director of Research for Global Industries and Senior Pharmaceuticals Analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence, joining us from London. A lot to cover here in the world of biotech.

[Paul Sweeney]

Always, always.

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