Wall Street eyes tech IPO surge after Cerebras listing boosts market expectations

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Wall Street eyes tech IPO surge

Highlights

Cerebras Systems raises $6.4bn in its IPO and closes up 68% on its debut, reaching a $70bn market capitalization.
Wall Street is on pace for nearly $90bn of IPOs in 2024, with possible listings from SpaceX, Anthropic, and OpenAI potentially pushing totals above the $156bn 2021 record.
Investor demand drives semiconductor and data center infrastructure stocks like Nvidia ($5.4tn), Broadcom ($2tn), and Bloom Energy (up 1,200% YoY) to record highs.

Cerebras deal lifts expectations for new listings

As first reported by Financial Times, Wall Street is bracing for a new wave of technology flotations after investors pile into Cerebras Systems' market debut. The AI chip designer raises $6.4bn including the overallotment option, in the largest semiconductor IPO on record, after bankers repeatedly increase both the price and the size of the offering.

Cerebras shares end their first trading day up 68%, giving the company a market value of about $70bn, roughly in line with General Motors. Several technology bankers say the strong performance shows investors remain highly receptive to new listings.

Magdalena Heinrich, Bank of America's head of U.S. tech equity capital markets, says Wall Street is on pace for nearly $90bn of IPOs this year. According to Dealogic, an expected June listing by SpaceX, combined with possible share sales by Anthropic and OpenAI, could push the total well beyond the record $156bn raised in U.S. IPOs in 2021.

Bankers say large AI groups need more capital than private markets can easily provide. Public listings also open additional funding channels, including convertible bonds and broader access to debt capital markets.

AI capital needs and sector gains support broader market revival

Jamie Turturici, head of technology, media and telecom equity capital markets at Barclays, describes the current backdrop as the early stage of a longer cycle. He says buy-side appetite for deals is very high, IPO shares are outperforming the wider market this year, and Barclays has its largest pipeline of candidates in more than six years, with semiconductor ecosystem companies racing to list.

A revival in large equity raises would benefit Wall Street after several weak years for dealmaking. Dealogic data show that the 1,010 IPOs and Spacs completed in New York in 2021 fall to 148 two years later, although fundraising in public markets from January to April this year is up 124% from the same period a year earlier.

OpenAI, Anthropic and SpaceXAI are among the companies with especially heavy funding needs as they build vast data centre capacity for AI models. Investors are also buying into the infrastructure behind that expansion, lifting companies exposed to chips and power generation.

Nvidia and Broadcom trade around all-time highs, with market values of $5.4tn and $2tn respectively. Bloom Energy, whose fuel cells supply on-site electricity to data centres, is up more than 1,200% over the past year, while Barclays says investor demand is also extending beyond technology into healthcare, real estate and clean energy.

Our previous analysis of Nvidia’s stock highlighted that NVDA remained in a strong medium- and long-term uptrend, trading well above key weekly moving averages despite a short-term pullback. We also noted overbought technical signals and the likelihood of near-term consolidation, while pointing to sustained institutional demand and optimism tied to enterprise AI infrastructure growth.

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