Cerebras Posts Record Quarterly Revenue of $210.8 Million and Raises 2026 Forecast
Key Facts
Cerebras reported results on November 12, 2026, for the third quarter ended September 30, posting record GAAP revenue of $210.8 million, up 55% year over year. Underlying revenue, the company’s non-GAAP measure, was $230.9 million, up 70% from the year-earlier period. The company said it had a significant cloud deal with one of the top three hyperscalers. It did not name the customer in its earnings statement and said it would disclose more details next year. Its filings also showed commercial agreements with Microsoft to sell cloud inference services.
The strongest growth came from cloud and other services, where underlying revenue reached $144.9 million, up 272% year over year. On a GAAP basis, cloud and other services generated revenue of $141.9 million, up 265% from the third quarter of the previous year. The figures reflect a growing contribution from services to the company’s business alongside its other revenue, while the announced cloud deal supports efforts to expand its customer base and diversify revenue. Cerebras described the deal as “a significant cloud deal with one of the top three hyperscalers.” It added that “more will be announced next year.”
On profitability, the company posted non-GAAP underlying net income of $29.823 million in the third quarter, compared with an underlying loss of $10.855 million in the same period of 2025. The GAAP picture was different: Cerebras recorded a net loss of $161.218 million in the third quarter. The gap between the two measures highlights the importance of distinguishing between the underlying profit presented by the company and the loss recorded under GAAP when assessing the results. In its filing, the company said its GAAP net loss was $161.2 million in the three months ended September 30, 2026, compared with $22.2 million in the same period of 2025. Its accumulated deficit was $1.5 billion as of September 30, 2026.
The company disclosed a material concentration of quarterly revenue among a limited number of customers. Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence accounted for 38% of total revenue in the three months ended September 30, 2026, while OpenAI accounted for 34%. The university’s share was 70% in the year-earlier period, while OpenAI’s share rose to 34% from 25% year over year. These figures put the customer diversification discussed by the company in the context of a broadening revenue base, while a substantial portion still depends on two major customers. The new cloud deal aims to open an additional channel for delivering services, according to the company.
On orders and operating capacity, Cerebras said remaining performance obligations totaled $26.1 billion as of September 30, 2026. It also said it had secured 700 megawatts of data center capacity for delivery by the end of 2027. These obligations and planned capacity indicate the scale of activity the company expects to serve, but come alongside its GAAP loss in the third quarter. On November 12, CBRS shares closed at $97.75, while Microsoft shares closed at $523. The percentage surge attributed to Cerebras shares during the announcement session could not be verified from a reliable public source.
Cerebras raised its 2026 underlying revenue forecast to a range of $940 million to $960 million and estimated fourth-quarter underlying revenue at between $310 million and $330 million. Its chief executive also said the company expects revenue to more than triple in 2027. The company plans to make its services available through Oracle Cloud Infrastructure during 2027, while targeting the launch of its CS-5 system in early summer that year. These plans provide a timeline for expanding service delivery channels and products after the third-quarter results. The company said “Cerebras will be available through Oracle Cloud Infrastructure in 2027,” and set the CS-5 launch for “early summer 2027.”