Key Highlights

  • Second-quarter 2026 GAAP Revenue was US$180.1 million, up 74 per cent year on year, while core revenue was US$209.9 million, up 103 per cent.
  • Remaining performance obligations were US$25.4 billion at 30 June 2026, and the company held US$8.6 billion in cash, restricted cash and short-term investments.
  • Third-quarter core revenue guidance is US$214 million to US$216 million, and the 2026 core revenue range was raised to US$880 million to US$890 million.

Second-quarter results

Cerebras Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:CBRS), the AI computing company, reported second-quarter 2026 results on 12 August 2026, shortly after its IPO on 14 May 2026. GAAP revenue was US$180.1 million, up 74 per cent year on year. Core revenue, a non-GAAP measure, was US$209.9 million, up 103 per cent.

Cloud and other services were the fastest-growing area. GAAP cloud and other services revenue was US$126.0 million, up 281 per cent, and core cloud revenue was US$127.7 million, up 287 per cent.

Margins and losses

GAAP gross Margin was 14 per cent, against a core gross margin of 41 per cent, which the company said was about 940 basis points higher than a year earlier. The GAAP Operating Margin was minus 265 per cent, while the core operating margin was minus 16 per cent, about 2,600 basis points better than in the second quarter of 2025.

The GAAP loss from operations was US$477.2 million and the GAAP net loss was US$450.5 million, or US$2.98 per basic share. The prior-year quarter showed Net Income of US$309.5 million, which included a US$363.3 million gain tied to a forward contract liability. The core net loss was US$6.9 million. The gap between GAAP and core measures is large, so readers should consult the company's reconciliation to understand which items are excluded.

Backlog, cash and capacity

Remaining performance obligations were US$25.4 billion at 30 June 2026. The company held US$8.6 billion in cash, restricted cash and short-term investments, and said it raised US$6.4 billion in gross IPO proceeds. It also closed a revolving Credit Facility of up to US$850 million.

Data centre capacity under contract for delivery by the end of 2027 exceeds 600 MW, and Manufacturing capacity is expected to grow more than tenfold in 2026. Weighted average basic shares were about 151 million, up from about 53 million a year earlier.

Guidance and customer concentration

Guidance is a forecast rather than a result. For the third quarter, Cerebras expects core revenue of US$214 million to US$216 million, a core gross margin of 38 per cent to 40 per cent and a core operating margin of minus 25 per cent to minus 23 per cent. For 2026 it raised its core revenue range to US$880 million to US$890 million, and management expects revenue to more than triple in 2027.

The filing's risk factors point to heavy reliance on a small number of customers, including OpenAI, G42, MBZUAI and AWS. The company cited OpenAI as a launch partner for GPT-5.6 Sol, as well as partnerships with AMD and AWS and new cloud agreements with Cognition and Lovable.

The third-quarter guidance midpoint of US$215 million is only about 2 per cent above second-quarter core revenue. Without first-quarter data, that cannot be split.

What to watch

Third-quarter results are scheduled for 12 November 2026. Points to watch include delivery against the US$214 million to US$216 million guidance, progress in converting the Backlog into revenue, margin trends and the concentration of customers.