Arm and SoftBank have approached AI chipmaker Cerebras about a potential acquisition, a move that could derail the company's plans to go public. The approach comes as Cerebras was preparing for an initial public offering, though the timeline and valuation of that listing have not been disclosed.
An unsolicited offer
The suitors — SoftBank and its majority-owned chip design arm Arm — made the overture directly to Cerebras in recent weeks, according to people familiar with the matter. Neither side has confirmed the talks. Cerebras, which makes specialized processors for artificial intelligence workloads, had been widely expected to file for an IPO in the coming months.
What an acquisition would mean
If the deal goes through, it would effectively cancel the IPO. Cerebras would become part of a larger group — either Arm, SoftBank, or some combination. SoftBank already owns Arm outright, and adding Cerebras would deepen its bet on AI hardware. For Arm, the acquisition would bring a line of chips that compete directly with Nvidia's GPUs, but built on Arm's own architecture.
Neither Cerebras nor the companies behind the approach have commented publicly. The chipmaker is known for its wafer-scale engines, which are among the largest semiconductors ever built.
It remains unclear whether Cerebras's board will engage with the offer or push ahead with the IPO. The company had already hired underwriters and was in the early stages of the roadshow process. A decision is expected in the coming weeks.
