Cerebras Systems, a prominent AI chipmaker, made a spectacular entry onto the Nasdaq exchange on Thursday, seeing its shares surge by 68% on its opening day. The stock closed at $311.07 after being offered at $185 per share, significantly above initial expectations, pushing the company’s market capitalization to approximately $95 billion.

The 10-year-old Silicon Valley-based firm successfully raised $5.55 billion by selling 30 million shares in its initial public offering, marking one of the largest U.S. technology IPOs in recent years, the biggest since Uber’s debut in 2019. Should the underwriters exercise their option to purchase an additional 4.5 million shares, the total proceeds could climb to $6.38 billion. The stock opened trading at $350 and briefly peaked at $386 during the session.

Cerebras’s successful launch comes amidst a robust artificial intelligence surge, which has invigorated the broader semiconductor industry. Companies like Intel, Advanced Micro Devices, and Micron have all experienced substantial gains this year. As a pure-play AI company, Cerebras is uniquely positioned to capitalize on the increasing demand for specialized hardware required to train and deploy complex AI models. Last year, the company reported a remarkable 76% increase in revenue, reaching $510 million, and swung to a net income of $88 million from a significant loss the previous year.

The company has strategically diversified its operations, moving beyond hardware sales to offer cloud services based on its advanced chips, placing it in competition with major cloud providers such as Google and Microsoft. This shift is bolstered by significant partnerships, including a multi-billion dollar cloud deal with OpenAI extending until 2028, and an agreement with Amazon Web Services to integrate Cerebras chips into its data centers. These collaborations, along with warrants held by Amazon and OpenAI to purchase Cerebras stock, underscore the company’s commitment to broadening its customer base and reducing its reliance on a few key clients, a challenge that had previously impacted its initial IPO filing process.