Sam Altman Cashes In as Cerebras IPO Jolts Wall Street

Sam Altman’s early bet on chipmaker Cerebras yielded a massive windfall Thursday as the company launched the year’s largest initial public offering. Shares opened at $350, nearly doubling their $185 pricing, turning the OpenAI CEO’s long-held stake into a fortune estimated at roughly $30 million.

Altman, who secured his initial interest in the Santa Clara-based firm back in 2017, held 89,373 shares according to recent court filings. While the stock price saw significant volatility during its debut, the valuation represents a sharp climb from the $3.2 million value assigned to his holdings at the end of last year. Cerebras, led by CEO Andrew Feldman, specializes in wafer-scale chips designed specifically to accelerate AI inference—the process that powers responses in tools like ChatGPT.

The relationship between the two companies has deepened significantly beyond Altman’s personal investment. In January, OpenAI committed to a deal valued at over $10 billion, which includes a $1 billion loan to Cerebras and a long-term agreement to co-design hardware through 2030. Altman has publicly lauded the company’s technology, calling its hardware the premier high-speed inference offering currently available. Beyond his personal gains, OpenAI itself holds warrants for millions of additional shares, positioning the company to reap further rewards from the chipmaker’s market entry.