- Record GAAP revenue of
$210.8 million - Record Core revenue of
$230.9 million - GAAP cloud revenue grew 265% from a year ago
- Core cloud revenue
$144.9 million , up 272% from a year ago - Commercial wins with two new hyperscalers
- 700 megawatts of data center capacity now under contract
- First to deliver production scale heterogeneous disaggregated inference offering
“Cerebras’ technology remains the undisputed champion of speed,” said
“We exceeded our guidance across the board for the third quarter in a row and delivered sequential improvements on all core financial metrics,” said
Q3 2026 Financial Highlights
GAAP Financial Results
- GAAP cloud and other services revenue: Record
$141.9 million , up 265% year-over-year - GAAP total revenue: Record
$210.8 million , up 55% year-over-year - GAAP gross margin: 20% up sequentially
- GAAP operating margin: (106%)
Core Financial Results (Non-GAAP)
Core results exclude the impacts of non-cash amortization of customer warrants and stock-based compensation, data center pass-through revenues and costs, and certain other items.
- Core cloud and other services revenue:
$144.9 million , up 272% year-over-year - Core total revenue:
$230.9 million , up 70% year-over-year - Core gross margin: 41% up both sequentially and year-over-year
- Core operating margin: (14%)
Fourth Quarter 2026 Financial Outlook
- Core Non-GAAP Financial Outlook:
- Core revenue of approximately
$310 to$330 million - Core gross margin in the range of 47% - 49%
- Core operating margins in the range of (1%) to 1%
- Core revenue of approximately
Full Year 2026 Financial Outlook
- Core Non-GAAP Financial Outlook:
- Core revenue of
$940 to$960 million - Core gross margin in the range of 42% - 44%
- Core operating margins in the range of (10%) to (8%)
- Core revenue of
Liquidity
- Strong liquidity with cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash, and short-term investments of
$7.8 billion and debt capacity of$850 million .
Business Highlights: General
$26.1 billion in remaining performance obligations as ofSeptember 30, 2026 .
Business Highlights: Customers
- Oracle is integrating Cerebras’ fast inference into Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. With the fastest AI inference, AI labs, enterprises and developers that rely on Oracle will now have the performance required to build robust agents and applications that are hyper responsive and execute complicated tasks in a shorter period of time.
Cerebras will be available in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure in 2027. - Today,
Cerebras announced an important cloud deal with a top three hyperscaler. More will be shared next year. - Expanded reach through a variety of neoclouds, diversifying routes to market and giving customers more ways to access Cerebras’ high-speed inference.
Cerebras high-speed inference will power the new Bilt Neighborhood OS platform and Bilt Concierge AI assistant to deliver faster, seamless interactions between the platform and the eight million consumers and 50,000 businesses it serves.
Business Highlights: Capacity
Global data center capacity and manufacturing capacity continue to grow.
- Secured 700 gross megawatts of data center capacity for delivery by the end of 2027, increasing pipeline of opportunities to gigawatt scale.
Cerebras Cloud is now among the largest non-hyperscaler AI clouds. - Signed contracts for additional capacity in
Norway andFinland . This expands Cerebras’ European capacity and supports long-term cloud inference demand. - Scaling manufacturing capacity with Flex and Sanmina; expects to exit 2026 with more than 10x manufacturing capacity versus beginning of the year.
- Plans in place to add factories and further increase capacity in 2027 to support substantial growth.
Cerebras disaggregated inference expands capacity by increasing up to 5x the number of tokens that data centers can deliver. More superfast tokens per MW means each data center produces more revenue.
Business Highlights: Capabilities
Cerebras is the first in the market to deliver production-scale heterogeneous disaggregated inference, which is expected to become a default offering in major clouds. Disaggregated inference delivers substantially more high-speed tokens for the same power, resulting in more profit per MW for cloud owners and lower cost per token for AI users.- This August,
Cerebras unveiled its next-generation systems, setting new standards for ultra-fast AI inference performance, efficiency and scalability:- At Supernova 2026,
Cerebras introduced CS-4, the world’s fastest AI accelerator, delivering up to 30x faster inference. CS-4 will soon be in full production. - At Hot Chips 2026,
Cerebras previewed its next-generation system the CS-5, targeted for early Summer 2027, designed to deliver up to 10,000 tokens per second per user. - Cerebras’ next-generation processor, the Wafer Scale Engine 5 to be deployed in CS-5, is back from the fab, completed bring up and is in system testing. From tape out to in system test in less than 5 months.
- At Supernova 2026,
Cerebras was a day-zero launch partner for Kimi K3.1, Moonshot AI’s 2.8 trillion-parameter frontier class open-weight model. Kimi 3.1 onCerebras is the fastest in the industry, running up to 2,000 tokens per second.
Upcoming Investor Events
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About
Contacts
Investor Relations
investors@cerebras.ai
Media & Analyst Relations
pr@cerebras.ai
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements other than statements of historical fact could be deemed to be forward-looking, including, but not limited to, statements about: demand for high-speed AI inference and long-term growth; the fourth quarter and full year 2026 financial outlook; tripling revenue in 2027; data center capacity and the timing of delivery; the
Cerebras’ actual results or outcomes could differ materially from those stated or implied in forward-looking statements due to a number of factors. Accordingly, undue reliance should not be placed on such statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date they were first issued and are based on information available to
Further information on potential risks that could affect actual results is included in Cerebras’ most recent filings with the
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS (unaudited) (in thousands, except per share amounts) | |||||||||||||||
| Three Months Ended | Nine Months Ended | ||||||||||||||
| 2026 | 2025 | 2026 | 2025 | ||||||||||||
| Revenue | |||||||||||||||
| Hardware | $ | 68,881 | $ | 96,794 | $ | 233,592 | $ | 236,763 | |||||||
| Cloud and other services | 141,928 | 38,920 | 350,732 | 101,785 | |||||||||||
| Total revenue | 210,809 | 135,714 | 584,324 | 338,548 | |||||||||||
| Cost of revenue | |||||||||||||||
| Hardware | 61,290 | 47,969 | 179,362 | 143,028 | |||||||||||
| Cloud and other services | 107,425 | 32,610 | 251,135 | 66,682 | |||||||||||
| Total cost of revenue | 168,715 | 80,579 | 430,497 | 209,710 | |||||||||||
| Gross profit | 42,094 | 55,135 | 153,827 | 128,838 | |||||||||||
| Operating expenses | |||||||||||||||
| Research and development | 177,842 | 57,257 | 573,488 | 170,775 | |||||||||||
| Sales and marketing | 32,813 | 20,834 | 134,483 | 49,388 | |||||||||||
| General and administrative | 55,588 | 3,513 | 162,277 | 20,796 | |||||||||||
| Total operating expenses | 266,243 | 81,604 | 870,248 | 240,959 | |||||||||||
| Loss from operations | (224,149 | ) | (26,469 | ) | (716,421 | ) | (112,121 | ) | |||||||
| Other income, net | 63,900 | 5,787 | 93,409 | 380,431 | |||||||||||
| Income (loss) before income taxes | (160,249 | ) | (20,682 | ) | (623,012 | ) | 268,310 | ||||||||
| Income tax expense | 969 | 1,519 | 2,740 | 4,866 | |||||||||||
| Net income (loss) | $ | (161,218 | ) | $ | (22,201 | ) | $ | (625,752 | ) | $ | 263,444 | ||||
| Net income (loss) attributable to common shareholders | |||||||||||||||
| Basic | $ | (161,218 | ) | $ | (22,201 | ) | $ | (625,752 | ) | $ | 101,685 | ||||
| Diluted | $ | (161,218 | ) | $ | (22,201 | ) | $ | (625,752 | ) | $ | 263,444 | ||||
| Net income (loss) per share attributable to common shareholders | |||||||||||||||
| Basic | $ | (0.67 | ) | $ | (0.41 | ) | $ | (4.13 | ) | $ | 1.92 | ||||
| Diluted | $ | (0.67 | ) | $ | (0.41 | ) | $ | (4.13 | ) | $ | 1.61 | ||||
| Weighted average shares outstanding | |||||||||||||||
| Basic | 238,885 | 53,983 | 151,532 | 52,909 | |||||||||||
| Diluted | 238,885 | 53,983 | 151,532 | 163,677 | |||||||||||
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (LOSS) (unaudited) (in thousands) | |||||||||||||||
| Three Months Ended | Nine Months Ended | ||||||||||||||
| 2026 | 2025 | 2026 | 2025 | ||||||||||||
| Net income (loss) | $ | (161,218 | ) | $ | (22,201 | ) | $ | (625,752 | ) | $ | 263,444 | ||||
| Change in foreign currency translation adjustments, net of tax | (53 | ) | (615 | ) | 585 | 297 | |||||||||
| Available-for-sale investments: | |||||||||||||||
| Change in net unrealized gain (loss) on debt securities, net of tax | (8,938 | ) | (397 | ) | (5,110 | ) | (1,204 | ) | |||||||
| Comprehensive income (loss) | $ | (170,209 | ) | $ | (23,213 | ) | $ | (630,277 | ) | $ | 262,537 | ||||
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (unaudited) (in thousands) | |||||||
| ASSETS | |||||||
| Current assets: | |||||||
| Cash and cash equivalents | $ | 3,074,752 | $ | 701,706 | |||
| Restricted cash | 444,042 | 228,672 | |||||
| Investments | 4,286,026 | 406,531 | |||||
| Accounts receivable, net | 231,762 | 50,423 | |||||
| Inventories | 146,100 | 63,626 | |||||
| Customer warrants | 140,174 | 60,906 | |||||
| Prepaid expenses and other current assets | 542,805 | 31,782 | |||||
| Total current assets | 8,865,661 | 1,543,646 | |||||
| Property and equipment, net | 1,507,797 | 437,396 | |||||
| Customer warrants, net of current portion | 951,800 | 91,447 | |||||
| Operating lease right-of-use assets | 571,237 | 248,950 | |||||
| Other non-current assets | 41,917 | 4,598 | |||||
| Total assets | $ | 11,938,412 | $ | 2,326,037 | |||
| LIABILITIES, REDEEMABLE CONVERTIBLE PREFERRED STOCK, AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY (DEFICIT) | |||||||
| Current liabilities: | |||||||
| Accounts payable | $ | 236,981 | $ | 48,630 | |||
| Deferred revenue | 234,309 | 131,049 | |||||
| Operating lease liability | 98,368 | 45,865 | |||||
| Customer deposits | 108,715 | 354,460 | |||||
| Working capital loan | 706,518 | — | |||||
| Accrued and other current liabilities | 295,980 | 139,536 | |||||
| Total current liabilities | 1,680,871 | 719,540 | |||||
| Deferred revenue, net of current portion | 453,293 | 35,847 | |||||
| Operating lease liability, net of current portion | 522,771 | 215,957 | |||||
| Working capital loan, net of current portion | 122,564 | — | |||||
| Total liabilities | 2,779,499 | 971,344 | |||||
| Redeemable convertible preferred stock | — | 1,933,348 | |||||
| Stockholders’ equity (deficit) | |||||||
| Class A common stock | 2 | 1 | |||||
| Class B common stock | 1 | — | |||||
| Class N common stock | — | — | |||||
| (21,456 | ) | (21,456 | ) | ||||
| Additional paid-in capital | 10,714,672 | 346,829 | |||||
| Accumulated other comprehensive income | (3,224 | ) | 1,301 | ||||
| Accumulated deficit | (1,531,082 | ) | (905,330 | ) | |||
| Total stockholders’ equity (deficit) | 9,158,913 | (578,655 | ) | ||||
| Total liabilities, redeemable convertible preferred stock, and stockholders’ equity (deficit) | $ | 11,938,412 | $ | 2,326,037 | |||
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS (unaudited) (in thousands) | |||||||
| Nine Months Ended | |||||||
| 2026 | 2025 | ||||||
| Cash flows from operating activities: | |||||||
| Net income (loss) | $ | (625,752 | ) | $ | 263,444 | ||
| Adjustments to reconcile net income (loss) to net cash flows used in operating activities: | |||||||
| Stock-based compensation | 541,706 | 33,781 | |||||
| Amortization of customer warrants | 82,739 | — | |||||
| Depreciation and amortization | 72,342 | 17,941 | |||||
| Non-cash lease expense | 61,826 | 13,729 | |||||
| Non-cash interest expense | 57,170 | — | |||||
| Provision for product warranties | 10,830 | 14,348 | |||||
| Extinguishment of forward contract liability | — | (363,336 | ) | ||||
| Other | (14,974 | ) | (1,453 | ) | |||
| Changes in operating assets and liabilities: | |||||||
| Accounts receivable | (181,338 | ) | 102,797 | ||||
| Inventories | (101,124 | ) | 58,798 | ||||
| Prepaid expenses and other assets | (546,038 | ) | 894 | ||||
| Accounts payable | 134,529 | 14,327 | |||||
| Deferred revenue | 288,047 | 26,532 | |||||
| Customer deposits | (245,745 | ) | (334,034 | ) | |||
| Other liabilities | 76,888 | 18,016 | |||||
| Net cash flows used in operating activities | $ | (388,894 | ) | $ | (134,216 | ) | |
| Cash flows from investing activities: | |||||||
| Purchases of property and equipment | $ | (1,046,059 | ) | $ | (301,139 | ) | |
| Purchases of investments | (5,120,232 | ) | (20,175 | ) | |||
| Maturities and sales of investments | 1,274,091 | 138,590 | |||||
| Net cash flows used in investing activities | $ | (4,892,200 | ) | $ | (182,724 | ) | |
| Cash flows from financing activities: | |||||||
| Proceeds from initial public offering, net of underwriting discounts and commissions | $ | 6,232,511 | $ | — | |||
| Proceeds from sale of shares of Series G redeemable convertible preferred stock | — | 1,074,999 | |||||
| Costs incurred in connection with the sale of shares of Series G redeemable convertible preferred stock | — | (16,718 | ) | ||||
| Proceeds from sale of shares of Series H redeemable convertible preferred stock | 1,014,249 | — | |||||
| Costs incurred in connection with a debt facility and an equity sale | (4,019 | ) | — | ||||
| Proceeds from Working Capital Loan | 1,004,571 | — | |||||
| Proceeds from exercise of stock options, net of repurchases of early exercised stock options | 39,507 | 10,531 | |||||
| Proceeds from issuance of shares of Class N common stock | 15,035 | — | |||||
| Tax withholding from tender offer and initial public offering | (416,659 | ) | — | ||||
| Payments of deferred offering costs and other financing activities | (15,774 | ) | — | ||||
| Net cash flows provided by financing activities | $ | 7,869,421 | $ | 1,068,812 | |||
| Effect of exchange rate on cash | 89 | 297 | |||||
| Increase (decrease) in cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash | $ | 2,588,416 | $ | 752,169 | |||
| Cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash beginning of period | 930,378 | 581,965 | |||||
| Cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash end of period | $ | 3,518,794 | $ | 1,334,134 | |||
RECONCILIATION OF GAAP TO NON-GAAP MEASURES (unaudited) (in thousands) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Reconciliation of GAAP Revenue to Core Revenue: | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Three Months Ended | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2026 | 2025 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Total | Hardware | Cloud and Other Services | Total | Hardware | Cloud and Other Services | |||||||||||||||
| GAAP revenue | $ | 210,809 | $ | 68,881 | $ | 141,928 | $ | 135,714 | $ | 96,794 | $ | 38,920 | ||||||||
| Less: Pass-through revenue | (16,360 | ) | — | (16,360 | ) | — | — | — | ||||||||||||
| Add: Amortization of customer warrant assets | 36,424 | 17,078 | 19,346 | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||
| Core revenue | $ | 230,873 | $ | 85,959 | $ | 144,914 | $ | 135,714 | $ | 96,794 | $ | 38,920 | ||||||||
| Nine Months Ended | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2026 | 2025 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Total | Hardware | Cloud and Other Services | Total | Hardware | Cloud and Other Services | |||||||||||||||
| GAAP revenue | $ | 584,324 | $ | 233,592 | $ | 350,732 | $ | 338,548 | $ | 236,763 | $ | 101,785 | ||||||||
| Less: Pass-through revenue | (34,974 | ) | — | (34,974 | ) | — | — | — | ||||||||||||
| Add: Amortization of customer warrant assets | 82,739 | 46,068 | 36,671 | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||
| Core revenue | $ | 632,089 | $ | 279,660 | $ | 352,429 | $ | 338,548 | $ | 236,763 | $ | 101,785 | ||||||||
Reconciliation of GAAP Gross Profit to Core Gross Profit:
| Three Months Ended | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2026 | 2025 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Total | Hardware | Cloud and Other Services | Total | Hardware | Cloud and Other Services | |||||||||||||||
| GAAP gross profit | $ | 42,094 | $ | 7,591 | $ | 34,503 | $ | 55,135 | $ | 48,825 | $ | 6,310 | ||||||||
| Less: Pass-through revenue and related data center costs, net | (488 | ) | — | (488 | ) | — | — | — | ||||||||||||
| Add: Amortization of customer warrant assets | 36,424 | 17,078 | 19,346 | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||
| Add: Stock-based compensation expense | 16,545 | 2,003 | 14,542 | 161 | 40 | 121 | ||||||||||||||
| Core gross profit | $ | 94,575 | $ | 26,672 | $ | 67,903 | $ | 55,296 | $ | 48,865 | $ | 6,431 | ||||||||
| Nine Months Ended | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2026 | 2025 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Total | Hardware | Cloud and Other Services | Total | Hardware | Cloud and Other Services | |||||||||||||||
| GAAP gross profit | $ | 153,827 | $ | 54,230 | $ | 99,597 | $ | 128,838 | $ | 93,735 | $ | 35,103 | ||||||||
| Less: Pass-through revenue and related data center costs, net | (1,037 | ) | — | (1,037 | ) | — | — | — | ||||||||||||
| Add: Amortization of customer warrant assets | 82,739 | 46,068 | 36,671 | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||
| Add: Stock-based compensation expense | 32,848 | 5,000 | 27,848 | 674 | 169 | 505 | ||||||||||||||
| Add: Employer payroll tax related to stock-based compensation from IPO | 471 | 118 | 353 | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||
| Core gross profit | $ | 268,848 | $ | 105,416 | $ | 163,432 | $ | 129,512 | $ | 93,904 | $ | 35,608 | ||||||||
Reconciliation of GAAP Gross Margin to Core Gross Margin:
| Three Months Ended | ||||||||||||||||||
| 2026 | 2025 | |||||||||||||||||
| Total | Hardware | Cloud and Other Services | Total | Hardware | Cloud and Other Services | |||||||||||||
| GAAP gross margin | 20.0 | % | 11.0 | % | 24.3 | % | 40.6 | % | 50.4 | % | 16.2 | % | ||||||
| Non-GAAP adjustments | 21.0 | 20.0 | 22.6 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.3 | ||||||||||||
| Core gross margin | 41.0 | % | 31.0 | % | 46.9 | % | 40.7 | % | 50.5 | % | 16.5 | % | ||||||
| Nine Months Ended | ||||||||||||||||||
| 2026 | 2025 | |||||||||||||||||
| Total | Hardware | Cloud and Other Services | Total | Hardware | Cloud and Other Services | |||||||||||||
| GAAP gross margin | 26.3 | % | 23.2 | % | 28.4 | % | 38.1 | % | 39.6 | % | 34.5 | % | ||||||
| Non-GAAP adjustments | 16.2 | 14.5 | 18.0 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.5 | ||||||||||||
| Core gross margin | 42.5 | % | 37.7 | % | 46.4 | % | 38.3 | % | 39.7 | % | 35.0 | % | ||||||
Reconciliation of GAAP Operating Expenses to Core Operating Expenses:
| Three Months Ended | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2026 | 2025 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total | Research and Development | Sales and Marketing | General and Administrative | Total | Research and Development | Sales and Marketing | General and Administrative | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| GAAP operating expenses | $ | 266,243 | $ | 177,842 | $ | 32,813 | $ | 55,588 | $ | 81,604 | $ | 57,257 | $ | 20,834 | $ | 3,513 | ||||||||||||||||
| Less: Stock-based compensation expense | (138,560 | ) | (80,999 | ) | (20,915 | ) | (36,646 | ) | (11,185 | ) | (8,619 | ) | (1,502 | ) | (1,064 | ) | ||||||||||||||||
| Core operating expenses | $ | 127,683 | $ | 96,843 | $ | 11,898 | $ | 18,942 | $ | 70,419 | $ | 48,638 | $ | 19,332 | $ | 2,449 | ||||||||||||||||
| Nine Months Ended | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2026 | 2025 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total | Research and Development | Sales and Marketing | General and Administrative | Total | Research and Development | Sales and Marketing | General and Administrative | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| GAAP operating expenses | $ | 870,248 | $ | 573,488 | $ | 134,483 | $ | 162,277 | $ | 240,959 | $ | 170,775 | $ | 49,388 | $ | 20,796 | ||||||||||||||||
| Less: Stock-based compensation expense | (508,858 | ) | (308,845 | ) | (93,762 | ) | (106,251 | ) | (33,107 | ) | (23,631 | ) | (4,984 | ) | (4,492 | ) | ||||||||||||||||
| Less: Employer payroll tax related to stock-based compensation from IPO | (22,307 | ) | (16,491 | ) | (3,907 | ) | (1,909 | ) | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Core operating expenses | $ | 339,083 | $ | 248,152 | $ | 36,814 | $ | 54,117 | $ | 207,852 | $ | 147,144 | $ | 44,404 | $ | 16,304 | ||||||||||||||||
Reconciliation of GAAP Loss from Operations to Core Operating Loss:
| Three Months Ended | Nine Months Ended | ||||||||||||||
| 2026 | 2025 | 2026 | 2025 | ||||||||||||
| GAAP loss from operations | $ | (224,149 | ) | $ | (26,469 | ) | $ | (716,421 | ) | $ | (112,121 | ) | |||
| Less: Pass-through revenue and related data center costs, net | (488 | ) | — | (1,037 | ) | — | |||||||||
| Add: Stock-based compensation expense | 155,105 | 11,346 | 541,706 | 33,781 | |||||||||||
| Add: Amortization of customer warrant assets | 36,424 | — | 82,739 | — | |||||||||||
| Add: Employer payroll tax related to stock-based compensation from IPO | — | — | 22,778 | — | |||||||||||
| Core operating loss | $ | (33,108 | ) | $ | (15,123 | ) | $ | (70,235 | ) | $ | (78,340 | ) | |||
Reconciliation of GAAP Operating Margin to Core Operating Margin:
| Three Months Ended | Nine Months Ended | ||||||||||
| 2026 | 2025 | 2026 | 2025 | ||||||||
| GAAP operating margin | (106.3 | %) | (19.5 | %) | (122.6 | %) | (33.1 | %) | |||
| Non-GAAP adjustments | 92.0 | 8.4 | 111.5 | 10.0 | |||||||
| Core operating margin | (14.3 | %) | (11.1 | %) | (11.1 | %) | (23.1 | %) | |||
Reconciliation of GAAP Loss from Operations to Core Adjusted EBITDA:
| Three Months Ended | Nine Months Ended | ||||||||||||||
| 2026 | 2025 | 2026 | 2025 | ||||||||||||
| GAAP loss from operations | $ | (224,149 | ) | $ | (26,469 | ) | $ | (716,421 | ) | $ | (112,121 | ) | |||
| Less: Pass-through revenue and related data center costs, net | (488 | ) | — | (1,037 | ) | — | |||||||||
| Add: Stock-based compensation expense | 155,105 | 11,346 | 541,706 | 33,781 | |||||||||||
| Add: Amortization of customer warrant assets | 36,424 | — | 82,739 | — | |||||||||||
| Add: Depreciation and amortization | 29,794 | 8,625 | 72,342 | 17,941 | |||||||||||
| Add: Employer payroll tax related to stock-based compensation from IPO | — | — | 22,778 | — | |||||||||||
| Core Adjusted EBITDA | $ | (3,314 | ) | $ | (6,498 | ) | $ | 2,107 | $ | (60,399 | ) | ||||
Reconciliation of GAAP Net Income (Loss) to Core Net Income (Loss):
| Three Months Ended | Nine Months Ended | ||||||||||||||
| 2026 | 2025 | 2026 | 2025 | ||||||||||||
| GAAP net income (loss) | $ | (161,218 | ) | $ | (22,201 | ) | $ | (625,752 | ) | $ | 263,444 | ||||
| Less: Pass-through revenue and related data center costs, net | (488 | ) | — | (1,037 | ) | — | |||||||||
| Less: Change in fair value (extinguishment) of forward contract liability | — | — | — | (363,336 | ) | ||||||||||
| Add: Stock-based compensation expense | 155,105 | 11,346 | 541,706 | 33,781 | |||||||||||
| Add: Amortization of customer warrant assets | 36,424 | — | 82,739 | — | |||||||||||
| Add: Employer payroll tax related to stock-based compensation from IPO | — | — | 22,778 | — | |||||||||||
| Core net income (loss) | $ | 29,823 | $ | (10,855 | ) | $ | 20,434 | $ | (66,111 | ) | |||||
Discussion of Non-GAAP Financial Measures
Use of non-GAAP financial measures
We use certain non-GAAP financial measures to supplement the performance measures in our consolidated financial statements, which are presented in accordance with GAAP. These non-GAAP financial measures include core total revenue, core hardware revenue, core cloud and other services revenue, core gross profit, core hardware gross profit, core cloud and other services gross profit, core gross margin, core hardware gross margin, core cloud and other services gross margin, core operating loss, core operating margin, core net income (loss), and core adjusted earnings before interest, income tax, depreciation and amortization (“Core Adjusted EBITDA”). We use these non-GAAP financial measures for financial and operational decision-making and as a means to assist us in evaluating period-to-period comparisons.
Reconciliations of each of these non-GAAP financial measures to their most directly comparable GAAP measures for this quarter and prior periods are included in the tables below or elsewhere in the materials accompanying this press release.
Usefulness of non-GAAP financial measures to investors
By excluding certain items that may not be indicative of our recurring operating results from our core technology and service offerings and stock-based compensation from grants of equity awards, we believe that the non-GAAP metrics described below provide meaningful supplemental information regarding our performance. Accordingly, we believe these non-GAAP financial measures are useful to investors and others because they allow additional information with respect to financial measures used by management in its financial and operational decision-making and may be useful to our institutional investors and the analyst community to help them analyze the health of our business. Disclosure of these non-GAAP financial measures also facilitates the comparisons of Cerebras’ operating performance with the performance of other companies in the same industry that supplement their GAAP results with non-GAAP financial measures that may be calculated in a manner comparable to their core operations.
Economic substance of and material limitations associated with non-GAAP financial measures used by
Core revenue, core hardware revenue, core cloud and other services revenue, core gross profit, core hardware gross profit, core cloud and other services gross profit, core gross margin, core hardware gross margin, core cloud and other services gross margin, core operating loss, core operating margin, Core Adjusted EBITDA and core net income (loss) are adjusted, as applicable, to: (i) exclude non-cash stock-based compensation; (ii) exclude pass-through revenues and costs that are not part of our core technology and services offering; and (iii) add back non-cash amortization from customer warrants that is recorded as a reduction in revenues; (iv) exclude from core net income (loss) the effect of the change in fair value (extinguishment) of the forward contract liability; and (v) present employer payroll tax related to stock-based compensation from IPO as an offset to the stock-based compensation adjustment in calculating core net income (loss). Core adjusted EBITDA also excludes the impacts of depreciation and amortization.
Core gross margin, core hardware margin, and core cloud and other services margin represent core gross profit, core hardware gross profit, and core cloud and other services gross profit, respectively, expressed as a percentage of their corresponding core revenue.
More specifically,
- Stock-based compensation expense consists of equity awards granted based on the estimated fair value of those awards at the grant date. Although stock-based compensation is a key incentive offered to employees,
Cerebras excludes these charges for the purpose of calculating these non-GAAP measures, primarily because they are non-cash expenses, and the Company’s internal benchmarking analyses evidence that many industry participants and peers present non-GAAP financial measures excluding stock-based compensation expense. - Amortization of customer warrants consists of equity granted to customers and recorded as contra-revenue. We exclude the impact of amortization of customer warrant assets recorded as contra-revenue from our non-GAAP results because it represents a non-cash, valuation-driven adjustment associated with equity instruments issued to customers. The amount and timing of this amortization may be influenced by factors outside our operational performance, including the timing of customer capacity deployment decisions and product delivery schedules, which are at the discretion of the customer. This adjustment does not reflect the underlying economics of our core revenue-generating activities, including pricing, volume, or cost of delivering our products and services, and therefore may not be indicative of our ongoing operating performance.
- Pass-through revenue and associated pass-through cost of revenue relate to non-recurring data center start-up and recurring data center costs that are incurred on behalf of specific customers. We exclude pass-through revenue and the associated pass-through cost of revenue from our non-GAAP financial measures because such amounts are incurred on behalf of specific customers and do not reflect the underlying economics of our core hardware technology and services offerings and generally generate fixed minimal gross margins. These pass-through revenues and costs are dependent on the pace of customer data center build-outs, deployment schedules, and customer deployment choices and approval of associated billings. Accordingly, these amounts may fluctuate significantly between reporting periods and can obscure comparisons of our operating performance results and trends in our core business.
- The change in fair value (extinguishment) of the forward contract liability reflects the impact recognized in connection with the forward contract liability. We exclude this item from core net income (loss) because it arose from the forward contract liability rather than from the operating performance of our core technology and services offerings.
- Employer payroll tax related to stock-based compensation from IPO is presented as an adjustment in calculating core net income (loss). This treatment presents the employer payroll tax separately from the non-cash stock-based compensation excluded from core net income (loss).
There are a number of limitations related to the use of non-GAAP financial measures, and these non-GAAP measures should be considered in addition to, not as a substitute for or in isolation from, our financial results prepared in accordance with GAAP. Other companies, including companies in our industry, may calculate these non-GAAP financial measures differently or not at all, which reduces their usefulness as comparative measures. No reconciliation is provided with respect to certain forward-looking non-GAAP financial measures as the GAAP measures are not accessible on a forward-looking basis. We cannot reliably predict all necessary components or their impact to reconcile such financial measures without unreasonable effort. The events necessitating a non-GAAP adjustment are inherently unpredictable and may have a significant impact on our future GAAP financial results.
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