Cerebras Systems vs Modal

Contrarian Investor Paul Meeks Recommends Buying Cerebras at 72% Discount

Contrarian tech investor Paul Meeks, Managing Director and Head of Technology Research at Freedom Capital Markets, reversed his stance on AI chipmaker Cerebras Systems. He had warned against buying the stock at its IPO and peak, but now sees a compelling opportunity after shares plunged roughly 72% from their high. Meeks highlights Cerebras's innovative Wafer-Scale Engine, which offers competitive advantages in AI inference. The company has about $25 billion in remaining performance obligations, including $20 billion tied to OpenAI, far exceeding its current quarterly core revenue of $210 million. Concerns about OpenAI using Nvidia chips are seen as overblown. Meeks sets a price target of $209, implying 91% upside, and expects revenue to triple to $2.8 billion by 2027.

• Cerebras Systems stock has fallen roughly 72% from its peak.
• Meeks sets a price target of $209, implying 91% upside from current levels.
• Cerebras has $25 billion in remaining performance obligations, including $20 billion from OpenAI.

Cerebras CEO dismisses AI doomsday warnings at Disrupt

At TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, Cerebras Systems CEO Andrew Feldman pushed back against the prevailing AI doomsday narrative, arguing that industry leaders are overemphasizing risks and neglecting the potential benefits. He suggested that some AI leaders 'maybe shouldn't be allowed to talk in public' due to their negative focus. Feldman highlighted AI's promise, such as a future where cancer deaths are eliminated, and urged a balanced approach: acknowledging power, being thoughtful, and regulating reasonably. He also criticized the data center industry's poor community engagement in the U.S., comparing it unfavorably to practices in other countries like Brazil and Finland. Despite efficiency improvements potentially reducing demand for his chips, Feldman remained confident in the continued need for advanced hardware from Cerebras and Nvidia competitors.

• Cerebras CEO Andrew Feldman spoke at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026.
• Feldman criticized AI doomsday warnings from other AI leaders.
• He cited a future where cancer deaths are eliminated as an AI benefit.

Cerebras CEO Predicts Home AI Assistants Are Near

At TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, Cerebras Systems CEO Andrew Feldman predicted that personal AI assistants will soon become as common as household appliances, running partly on local devices and partly in the cloud. He cited advances in consumer AI agents, such as Meta's Muse and Instinct, as evidence of AI's growing adoption. Feldman envisions these assistants will know users well, have security perimeters, and be able to make purchases on their behalf. As a chipmaker, he sees this trend as driving demand for AI infrastructure. He personally uses a collection of agents for scheduling and information retrieval, and prefers building platforms that enable other founders' ideas.

• Cerebras Systems CEO Andrew Feldman spoke at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 in October 2026.
• Feldman predicts personal AI assistants running locally and in the cloud will become common in homes.
• He cited Meta's AI agents Muse and Instinct as examples of consumer AI finding foothold.

Modal Hits $1B ARR, Raises $750M Series D at $15.75B Valuation

Modal, an AI infrastructure startup, has achieved a $1 billion annualized run rate and raised a $750 million Series D at a $15.75 billion valuation, led by Accel. CEO Erik Bernhardsson noted that usage has tripled since the Series C and grown over 15x year-over-year. The company's Sandboxes product, launched in 2023, now generates $300 million in run rate (about a third of revenue), with nearly three billion spun up and scaling to a million concurrent. Modal aggregates demand from thousands of customers to offer elastic GPU capacity across nearly 25 cloud providers, moving away from fixed-term contracts and exploring NVIDIA alternatives. Key focuses include agentic workloads, GPU price declines, and future plans for training and batch products. CTO Akshat Bubna also emphasized the growing need for 'millions of concurrent sandboxes' and advanced infrastructure for AI agents.

• Modal raised a $750M Series D at a $15.75B valuation, led by Accel.
• Modal crossed $1B in annualized run rate.
• Usage has tripled since Series C and grown over 15x year-over-year.

Runtime recap: the full keynote, VM Sandboxes, Modal Clusters, and more.

Modal announces a runtime product update with VM Sandboxes and Modal Clusters, as highlighted in a blog post.

Modal Labs closing in on $750M round at $15.75B valuation

AI inference infrastructure provider Modal Labs is nearing a $750 million funding round led by Accel at a $15.75 billion valuation, according to a source. This would more than triple its valuation from $4.65 billion in May. The round comes amid surging demand for inference services, with other startups like Baseten, Fireworks, and Fal also raising at higher valuations. Modal Labs, founded in 2021 by Erik Bernhardsson and Akshat Bubna, provides infrastructure for training and running AI models without managing servers. The company has surpassed $300 million in annualized revenue as of May. The funding talks follow a security incident in July where a customer's data was compromised, but Modal's platform was not breached.

• Modal Labs is nearing a $750 million funding round led by Accel at a $15.75 billion valuation.
• The round would more than triple Modal Labs' valuation from $4.65 billion in May.
• Modal Labs has surpassed $300 million in annualized revenue as of May.