Cerebras Systems, now worth $60 billion after its blockbuster IPO, once came dangerously close to failure. In 2019, the AI chip company burned through an astonishing $8 million monthly while working on a technical challenge the semiconductor industry deemed impossible. Founder Andrew Feldman recalled making "the painful walk of shame" to board meetings to report another failure and more money incinerated.

The company's revolutionary approach involved creating a single, massive chip rather than multiple smaller ones—a concept that had never succeeded before. After destroying countless chips and exhausting $200 million, Cerebras finally solved the packaging challenges in July 2019. Their breakthrough included inventing specialized equipment to secure the wafer without cracking it, allowing the chip to function properly.

Cerebras' relationship with OpenAI evolved from potential acquisition to partnership, with the AI giant providing a $1 billion loan secured by warrants worth over $9 billion. The company agreed not to sell to specific OpenAI competitors, though CEO Feldman characterized this as temporary. Cerebras is now focusing on select customers before expanding to others, treating AI compute capacity strategically.