Cerebras Leads Crop of IPOs Rushing to Tap Market Before SpaceX

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(Bloomberg) — A cluster of companies led by artificial-intelligence chipmaker Cerebras Systems Inc. started formally marketing their US IPOs Monday, as firms weighing second-quarter debuts look to get ahead of SpaceX’s potentially record-breaking listing.

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Initial public offerings by firms ranging from Blackstone Inc.’s data-center acquisition vehicle to KKR & Co.-backed emergency medical services provider GMR Solutions Inc. could raise as much as $7.7 billion, adding to an expected $1.03 billion of listings already being pitched to investors.

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If they all raise the maximum amount cited in their filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the total for the first half of 2026, including financial vehicles such as blank-check firms, would be $49.3 billion, data compiled by Bloomberg show. That would be the most raised via US listings over two consecutive quarters since the latter half of 2021, the data show — even before SpaceX’s debut, in which the company has targeted raising as much as $75 billion.

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“The market continues to be constructive and when the market is there people are obviously jumping to get through that window,” said Davis Polk & Wardwell partner Michael Kaplan. “As long as the market continues to work like it is, we expect things to stay busy.”

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Companies are seizing what may prove to be a short-lived opportunity to go public in favorable conditions. Markets have shrugged off uncertainty around the Iran war, with the S&P 500 Index posting five consecutive weeks of gains. Listing candidates are also facing so-called financial staleness later in May, when they need to refresh their revenue and profitability data in order to keep their regulatory filings up to date — a requirement for going public.

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“Companies want to go public ahead of big deals like SpaceX and nobody wants to be in the shadow of a giant IPO,” said Jeff Zell, senior research analyst at IPO Boutique. “That said, we have also been in a period where the pipeline has been backlogged not only for months but, you might also say, years.”

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At the top of the price range, Cerebras’ IPO would be the biggest listing excluding financial vehicles since Medline Inc.’s $7.2 billion debut in December. The AI hardware firm is seeking to take on Nvidia Corp., the dominant chipmaker, as investors pour billions of dollars into listings with exposure to the theme. 

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Blackstone Digital Infrastructure Trust Inc., which also began formal marketing on Monday for its listing, is seeking to raise $1.75 billion to acquire newly built data centers. Fervo Energy Co., a geothermal energy developer, is set to tap investors for as much as $1.33 billion to meet the power needs of data centers. EagleRock Land LLC, a landowner that leases real estate to oil and gas companies, also plans to court data centers among other businesses. 

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Two of the largest completed US IPOs this year, Madison Air Solutions Corp. and Forgent Power Solutions Inc., touted their revenue from data center customers in their filings.

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Healthcare, another theme finding favor with IPO investors, is represented among the listings in the next two weeks, with biotech Odyssey Therapeutics Inc. and device maker Mobia Medical Inc. seeking to raise nearly $400 million in aggregate. US healthcare IPOs have raised $6.4 billion so far in 2026, versus $4.4 billion over the same period a year ago, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

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—With assistance from Bailey Lipschultz and Anthony Hughes.

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