Benchmark raises $225 million to double down on AI chipmaker Cerebras

Benchmark raises $225 million to double down on AI chipmaker Cerebras

Table of Contents Benchmark Capital has committed at least $225 million to AI chipmaker Cerebras Systems as part of a massive $1 billion funding round that closed in early February 2026. The round values Cerebras at about $23 billion ; that's about 3x its valuation just six months earlier. This $225 million investment doesn’t come directly from Benchmark’s usual venture fund. Instead, the firm raised two special-purpose investment vehicles, both called Benchmark Infrastructure, and they're made for the purpose of investing more in Cerebras without exceeding its normal fund size limits. Notably, Benchmark originally backed Cerebras at a much earlier stage. That support led to its $27 million Series A round in 2016, and this latest move shows a significant escalation of confidence in the company’s future. Cerebras is not a typical semiconductor startup. It builds extremely large, highly specialised AI chips known as Wafer Scale Engines (WSE). WSE is bigger and more powerful than sta…