Cerebras stock jumps as Europe AI expansion fuels OpenAI infrastructure

Cerebras Systems CBRS shares rose 11% on Thursday after the artificial intelligence infrastructure company unveiled plans for a major expansion across Europe.

The initiative includes new AI data centres that will partially support OpenAI workloads under the companies' existing partnership.

The company said it expects to bring its first European data centre capacity online by the end of this year before expanding its footprint across France, Finland and Norway.

Cerebras plans major European AI data centre expansion

Cerebras said it plans to build out a large artificial intelligence data centre network in Europe, marking its first entry into the region as demand grows for locally hosted AI infrastructure.

The company expects to expand total capacity to 200 megawatts by the end of 2027.

A portion of that capacity is expected to support OpenAI workloads through the companies' existing partnership.

Cerebras said the investment is intended to address increasing demand from European enterprises, research institutions and governments seeking low-latency AI infrastructure within the region rather than relying on providers in the United States or Asia.

Power capacity has become a key measure of AI data centres because electricity availability is increasingly the primary constraint on expanding AI computing.

While smaller enterprise data centres typically consume between 1 and 20 megawatts, hyperscale facilities operated by cloud providers can require 100 megawatts or more.

Chief executive Andrew Feldman said the projects represent a significant investment.

"These are massive expansions" worth several billion dollars, Feldman told AFP on the sidelines of the RAISE Summit in Paris.

He also said, "By putting data centres across Europe... we think that we can meet all the unique European requirements" on issues such as data sovereignty.

Manufacturing partnership with Flex expands production

Alongside its European expansion, Cerebras announced an expanded manufacturing partnership with Flex to increase production of its CS-3 AI accelerator systems.

Production will be scaled at Flex's facilities in Milpitas, California, with the expanded operation expected to increase CS-3 manufacturing capacity by approximately seven times through 2026.

The expansion will be supported by additional production lines, increased manufacturing space and more skilled workers.

"The CS-3 is unlike any computer system ever built, and scaling its production requires an extraordinary manufacturing partner," said Chief Operating Officer Dhiraj Mallick.

The company said the manufacturing expansion is designed to support rising demand for AI inference infrastructure.

AI inference demand continues to grow

Cerebras has focused on processors designed specifically for AI inference, the process through which AI models generate responses to user prompts.

Demand for inference-focused chips has accelerated alongside the growing adoption of AI agents, which require significantly more computing resources.

Feldman said demand across Europe continues to outpace supply.

"These deployments will enable us to move decisively on what our customers have been asking for: fast, high-performance AI compute located in Europe," he said in the company's statement.

He also told AFP that demand for generative AI computing in Europe is "extraordinary... growing very, very quickly," adding that the market is expanding "faster than we can keep up".

The expansion comes as AI infrastructure investment accelerates across Europe.

The AI infrastructure boom also helped Cerebras raise $5.5 billion in its US initial public offering in May, making it one of the 15 largest IPOs in Wall Street history.

According to TipRanks data, all 10 analysts covering the company currently rate the stock a Buy, with an average price target of $296, implying roughly 46% upside from current levels.