Cerebras Systems, Backed by Altman, Seals Billion-Dollar Deal with OpenAI in Major AI Hardware Power Move

The AI arms race just got a serious hardware injection. Cerebras Systems, the chip startup famously backed by Sam Altman, has locked down a billion-dollar agreement with OpenAI. This isn't just another partnership—it's a direct supply line for the computational firepower needed to fuel the next generation of large language models.

What This Deal Actually Means

Forget incremental upgrades. OpenAI is buying raw processing scale. Cerebras's wafer-scale engines are designed to bypass the limitations of traditional GPU clusters, tackling massive AI training workloads in a single system. This deal signals a strategic bet on hardware architecture as a critical bottleneck—and potential accelerant—for achieving artificial general intelligence.

The Financial Subtext

While the tech teams celebrate unprecedented flops, the finance teams are quietly calculating the burn rate. A billion dollars buys a lot of silicon, but in the high-stakes poker game of AGI, it's just another ante. The real payoff—or the spectacular bust—is still waiting on the turn card.

This partnership reshapes the battlefield. It’s a clear move by OpenAI to control more of its own destiny, from algorithms to the physical chips that run them. For the rest of the industry, the message is stark: the race isn't just about who has the best researchers, but who can build the engine to outrun everyone else.

OpenAI signs deal with Altman-backed cloud computing provider 

According to an official statement from OpenAI, integrating Cerebras into its mix of compute solutions, is all about making its AI products respond more rapidly. This means that when users ask a hard question, generate code, create an image, or run an AI agent, the thinking process becomes faster so that the AI can respond in real time, allowing users to do more with it, stay longer, and run higher-value workloads.

According to the statement, OpenAI plans to integrate this low-latency capacity into its inference stack in phases, expanding across workloads.  

Sachin Katti of OpenAI had this to say about the development: 

“Cerebras adds a dedicated low-latency inference solution to our platform. That means faster responses, more natural interactions, and a stronger foundation to scale real-time AI to many more people.” 

According to her, this aligns with OpenAI’s compute strategy, which is to build a resilient portfolio that matches the right systems to the right workloads. 

Speaking about the partnership, Andrew Feldman, co-founder and CEO of Cerebras, expressed delight at the opportunity to partner with OpenAI as it means pairing the world’s leading AI models with the world’s fastest AI processor. 

“Just as broadband transformed the internet, real-time inference will transform AI, enabling entirely new ways to build and interact with AI models,” Feldman said.

The capacity is expected to come online in multiple tranches through 2028. The development comes as OpenAI continues to struggle under explosive demand and a severe shortage of compute resources. 

The company has been trying to wean itself off heavy dependence on Nvidia and major cloud providers like Microsoft and Oracle, though the move has also raised eyebrows, given what it means for Sam Altman, who is listed as an investor of Cerebras Systems.

OpenAI reveals partnership with SoftBank

OpenAI announced a strategic partnership with SB Energy⁠, a SoftBank Group company, as part of project Stargate⁠, and it has been touted as a significant step forward in the build-out of next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) and energy infrastructure in the United States. 

To support the partnership amid accelerating demand for AI compute, OpenAI and SoftBank Group have each pledged $500 million, which will be invested in SB Energy. 

OpenAI has also selected SBE to build and operate its previously-announced 1.2 GW data center site in Milam County. The equity funding will support SB Energy’s growth while it focuses on developing several multi-gigawatt data center campuses that are expected to launch service this year.

Communities push back against data centers

According to the official statement, each project will see SB Energy and OpenAI invest in communities by providing well-paying jobs, workforce development, and grid modernization, thereby facilitating durable economic growth for partner communities.

The Milam County Data Center is expected to create thousands of construction jobs and it has been designed to minimize water usage. There are also plans to support the Milam County Data Center’s energy needs while protecting Texas ratepayers.

All of those moves show that OpenAI is aware of the growing disdain from regular citizens living around data centers. 2025 saw an uptick in the spread of the Not-in-my-backyard (NIMBY) movement as more people, tired of the noise pollution and water-consuming data centers in their neighborhoods, started clamoring for them to be dismantled or prevented from being built. 

In response to those grievances, companies have been working on better solutions like liquid cooling to replace the noisy HVACs and promises of durable economic growth for those areas. However, people remain skeptical, and many have downright refused, attempting to fight what they’re now calling a cancer.

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