Cerebras posts record quarter, raises its 2026 outlook and signs Microsoft

Cerebras Systems said on Nov. 12, 2026, that third-quarter core revenue rose 70% to a record $230.9 million, raised its full-year outlook and named Microsoft as its third hyperscaler customer.

In the week Nvidia lost its CEO and AI spending jitters spread, a Nvidia challenger beat its numbers, raised the year and added Microsoft. The weak spot is the same one dogging every AI cloud: the chips are fine, the buildings are late, and OpenAI is waiting. Tripling revenue in 2027 depends less on wafers than on concrete and power.

Cerebras reported a record quarter for the three months ended Sept. 30, 2026. GAAP revenue, the figure under standard accounting rules, was $210.8 million, up 55 percent from a year earlier. Core revenue, the company's adjusted number that leaves some items out, was $230.9 million. The headline rounds that to $231 million. It was up 70 percent from $135.7 million a year earlier. A 70 percent rise means this quarter's core sales were 1.7 times last year's. The same core growth rate was 103 percent in the second quarter, so the business is still growing fast, and growing less fast than it did three months ago. Analysts tracked by LSEG had expected $214.7 million. Those figures are in the Nov. 12 earnings release and the same-day coverage.

The split inside that core number is the OpenAI deal. Core cloud and other services revenue was $144.9 million, up 272 percent from a year earlier, which the company says reflects that deal. A 272 percent rise is a little under four times last year's cloud revenue. Core hardware revenue was about $86 million, up 5 percent sequentially, meaning from the previous quarter rather than from a year earlier. Those lines are the company's.

Core gross margin was 41 percent. Gross margin is what is left from each sales dollar after the direct cost of delivering the product, so about 41 cents on the dollar. Core operating margin was negative 14 percent, so after the broader costs of running the business the company was still in the red on that adjusted measure. It also posted its first positive non-GAAP net income as a public company, about $30 million of adjusted profit. Analysts had expected an adjusted loss. Non-GAAP is the same idea as core: a company-adjusted profit figure, not the strict accounting one. Those lines are in the results and the same-day coverage.

The outlook went up. For the fourth quarter Cerebras expects core revenue of about $310 million to $330 million, a core gross margin of 47 percent to 49 percent, and a core operating margin between negative 1 percent and positive 1 percent. That margin range is roughly break-even on the adjusted operating line, after this quarter's negative 14 percent. For the full year 2026, core revenue is now $940 million to $960 million, raised from $880 million to $890 million. The new range starts above the old range's top. Those ranges are the company's.

Microsoft signed a cloud deal. Cerebras expects revenue from it to start in the first quarter of 2027, with more details in the first half of 2027. Microsoft is the third hyperscaler customer, alongside Amazon Web Services and Oracle. A hyperscaler is one of the giant cloud companies. That customer count and the timing of revenue are the company's.

Cerebras says 700 megawatts of data center capacity are under contract. A megawatt is a large unit of electric power, and here it is the power those contracted buildings are meant to draw. Cash and short-term investments were $7.8 billion, plus $850 million of debt capacity. Remaining performance obligations were $26.1 billion as of Sept. 30, Reuters reported. That phrase means contracted work the company has not yet counted as revenue. The capacity, cash, and debt lines are the company's. The $26.1 billion is Reuters's.

On the call, chief executive Andrew Feldman said Cerebras lacked capacity for a broad rollout of OpenAI's Ultrafast tier and had fallen behind on the first capacity deliveries to OpenAI. He blamed land, power, and data center construction, not the chips. No delayed capacity had been canceled. Chief financial officer Bob Komin estimated that under 5 percent of the committed megawatts could become subject to cancellation this year. Those lines are theirs, as the same-day coverage reported the call.

In the earnings release, Feldman said: "Cerebras' technology remains the undisputed champion of speed." The company expects "to triple revenue in 2027." Triple means about three times the sales, on the company's own expectation. Shares rose more than 17 percent in extended trading on Thursday. Extended trading is the session after the regular market close. That move is in the same-day coverage.

The picture is Cerebras co-founder and chief executive Andrew Feldman, smiling, in glasses, a navy plaid blazer, and a lavender shirt, against a white background. It is the company's official headshot. The credit is Cerebras.

In plain terms, Cerebras sold a record $230.9 million of core revenue in the quarter, up 70 percent, raised this year's forecast to $940 million to $960 million, and added Microsoft as a third giant cloud customer. The first adjusted profit as a public company was about $30 million. The miss is physical: OpenAI's faster tier is waiting on buildings, land, and power, and Feldman says the chips are not the holdup.