Cerebras CEO Andrew Feldman to Tackle AI Scaling at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026

Cerebras Systems has signed a multiyear agreement with OpenAI to deploy 750 megawatts of its wafer-scale AI systems from 2026 through 2028, and the company's CEO and co-founder Andrew Feldman will take the Disrupt Stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 to answer the question now hanging over the entire industry: can AI keep scaling?

The stakes behind that question are hard to overstate. AI models keep getting more capable, but every leap forward demands more compute, energy, and infrastructure. How far that can continue — and what breaks first — has become a central concern for founders, investors, and technology leaders making decisions around AI infrastructure.

Feldman's session, titled "Can AI Keep Scaling?", will explore the growing demand for compute, energy, and infrastructure, how Cerebras is approaching those constraints differently, and what comes next if today's AI hardware reaches its limits. Disrupt 2026 takes place October 13-15 at Moscone West in San Francisco.

A decade spent challenging the conventional AI chip

Feldman co-founded Cerebras in 2015 after years of building companies around computing infrastructure. Before Cerebras, he co-founded and led SeaMicro, an energy-efficient microserver startup that AMD acquired in 2012. Earlier, he held leadership roles at Force10 Networks and Riverstone Networks.

At Cerebras, Feldman and his co-founders took on a problem long considered impractical: bringing wafer-scale computing to market. Rather than cutting a silicon wafer into individual chips, Cerebras developed a processor built on the wafer itself, an architecture designed specifically for demanding AI workloads. The company provides that compute through on-premise systems and its own cloud platform, and it has spent the past decade challenging a basic assumption behind AI computing: that increasingly powerful AI must depend on conventional chip architectures.

The market has started to reward that bet. Cerebras raised $5.5 billion in its May IPO. In August, it introduced CS-4, the latest generation of its wafer-scale AI infrastructure.

Scaling AI means scaling the infrastructure behind it

More powerful processors alone don't solve the scaling problem. Those systems need data centers, electricity, cooling, and manufacturing capacity. Scaling AI isn't solely about designing a faster processor — it requires enough physical infrastructure to put that compute to work.

Cerebras is already confronting that challenge directly. In August, the company reported more than 600 megawatts of data center capacity live or under contract for delivery by the end of 2027. It said it was increasing manufacturing capacity more than tenfold during 2026. The company also plans to bring its first European data center capacity online this year and expand to 200 megawatts there by the end of 2027.

Those numbers illustrate why Feldman's session matters beyond Cerebras itself. If the AI industry's trajectory depends on physical infrastructure — power, cooling, fabs, data centers — then the binding constraints on AI progress may be industrial rather than algorithmic. Feldman can put those constraints into context: where compute demand is heading, what it takes to support it, and where today's hardware could hit its limits.

What Feldman will cover on stage

At Disrupt, Feldman will explore what growing demand for compute, energy, and infrastructure means for AI's future, and what could happen if conventional hardware can no longer keep pace. Cerebras pursued wafer-scale computing long before today's AI infrastructure boom and is now scaling its computing and manufacturing capacity as demand for AI accelerates.

For anyone building, funding, or deploying AI, the session offers a chance to hear from a founder testing a different approach to one of the industry's biggest constraints — an entrepreneur who has spent more than a decade betting on an alternative way to build AI hardware.

Disrupt 2026 at a glance

Feldman's session is one of more than 200 sessions across six industry stages, roundtables, and breakouts at Disrupt, which runs October 13-15 at Moscone West in San Francisco. Organizers expect more than 10,000 founders, investors, operators, and tech leaders, along with 250+ speakers and 300+ exhibiting startups. Beyond the agenda, matchmaking, dealmaking, and networking create opportunities to connect with the founders, investors, and builders shaping what comes next.

Attendees can secure a Disrupt pass and bring a co-founder, colleague, or peer at 50% off. For decision-makers weighing where AI infrastructure goes from here, Feldman's answer to whether AI can keep scaling — and what must change for it to continue — may be one of the more consequential conversations at the event.