Anthropic Chip Rumor Crashes Chip Stocks; Cramer Buys Intel
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- The Information reported Thursday that Anthropic is in talks with Samsung to manufacture a custom AI chip, but the report offered no details on whether it would be a GPU or CPU or how it would be used.
- Anthropic told TechCrunch it currently uses chips from Alphabet's Google, Amazon, and Nvidia for computing power and had nothing to add about custom-chip aspirations.
- Chip stocks including Micron, Seagate, Western Digital, Sandisk, AMD, Nvidia, and Intel sold off on thin pre-holiday volume, with markets closed Friday for the Fourth of July.
- Jim Cramer drew a parallel to January's CrowdStrike selloff, when shares fell from ~$138 to the $90s on fears Anthropic would disrupt cybersecurity, then rallied roughly $100 to the $190s after Anthropic launched Project Glasswing.
- Intel is Cramer's chip pick because its CPUs, foundry buildout, and packaging business competing with Cadence insulate it from any Anthropic chip threat, and he says it has 'the most upside.'
- Nvidia was also caught in the selloff, and Cramer explicitly said he'd rather own it but is avoiding the stock because 'there is not a day when someone tries to rain on Nvidia's parade.'
Why it matters: Cramer's January CrowdStrike trade saw shares fall from ~$138 to the $90s before a $100 rally to the $190s after Anthropic's Project Glasswing launched. He's betting Intel's CPUs, foundry buildout, and Cadence-competing packaging business insulate it from any Anthropic chip, giving it the most upside in the chip space.
