How UAE AI firm's past China links stalled this US chipmaker's IPO
Cerebras Systems executives had been hoping that the Trump administration would fast-track the national security review that has left the chipmaker’s initial public offering in limbo for five months, Reuters reported Tuesday.
Cerebras Systems, a California-based AI chipmaker, has been trying for months to go public, but that effort has been stalled due to a pending national security review around an investment by the UAE-based AI firm G42.
The executives of Cerebras, a smaller competitor to Nvidia in the lucrative microchip market, had been hoping that the Trump administration would allow for the swift completion of the review, which has left the chipmaker’s initial public offering in limbo for five months, Reuters reported Tuesday, citing sources familiar with the matter.
What happened: In April 2024, G42 committed to investing $335 million in Cerebras in exchange for a more than 5% stake in the company. The deal was expected to be approved at the end of last year, people familiar with the matter told Reuters in October, but it still has not been.
The interagency Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) is in this case looking at G42’s links to China. Abu Dhabi-based G42 previously had a stake in ByteDance, the Chinese owner of social media video app TikTok.
