$60B AI chip darling Cerebras almost died early on, burning $8M a month

Cerebras Systems, now a $60B public company after a blockbuster 2026 IPO, nearly collapsed in 2019 while burning $8M per month — nearly $200M total — trying to solve the chip packaging problem for its wafer-scale AI processor. CEO Andrew Feldman recounts the years of failed attempts to package a chip 58x larger than anything previously built, requiring custom cooling solutions and even a bespoke 40-screw simultaneous bolting machine. The breakthrough came in July 2019. The piece also reveals that OpenAI once considered acquiring Cerebras, later became a customer, and loaned the company $1B secured by warrants that could be worth over $9B at current share prices, with a temporary restriction preventing Cerebras from selling to certain OpenAI competitors.