CNBC’s Jim Cramer said Tuesday that some of the best ways to invest in the artificial intelligence boom are established tech giants with multiple opportunities to capitalize on the technology.
The “Mad Money” host acknowledged concerns about stretched AI valuations and comparisons with the dotcom bubble. Rather than backing away from a trade that continues to drive much of the market’s gains, Cramer said he favors blue-chip companies with strong businesses and management teams that can find new ways to benefit from AI.
“Because I think that a lot of things can possibly go right, I want to stick with the AI data center plays,” Cramer said.
He pointed to Meta and Microsoft as two examples. Cramer’s CNBC Investing Club owns both stocks.
While Meta shares had a rocky start to 2026, Cramer said he trusted CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his team to figure out how to monetize its AI spending, which the Facebook and Instagram parent is expected to do with Muse. The stock now trades around $738.
“I didn’t think, ‘what a bunch of chowderheads, they don’t have anything AI,'” Cramer said. “I thought that Mark Zuckerberg and his dream team are brilliant and they’ll figure something out.”
Cramer had a similar view of Microsoft when shares traded at a 52-week low of $350 in June. “I didn’t think their best times were behind them,” Cramer said, despite at times expressing frustration in the stock’s performance. Ultimately, though, Cramer retained the Club’s shares because of his trust in the veteran leadership team of CEO Satya Nadella and CFO Amy Hood.
“I thought, ‘They’re going to figure out this Copilot, and with their Azure web services business they’re going to make a ton of money.'” Shares now trade around $529, as the market has grown more confident in Microsoft’s plan for Copilot. Also, in late July, the performance and guidance for Azure also surpassed Wall Street expectations, leading to a stock rally.
Cramer also highlighted Advanced Micro Devices and Intel in semiconductors, Marvell Technology in chips and fiber, and CrowdStrike and Palo Alto Networks in cybersecurity.
The strategy looks particularly attractive to Cramer as higher interest rates make growth harder to find elsewhere. AI-related companies, by contrast, are among the relatively few businesses that can continue delivering strong growth in this environment, he said.
“When I query about 80% of the S&P 500 about what can possibly go right, I can’t even think of anything for most of them,” Cramer said. “Sure, that can change when the war ends. Until then, though, the AI-related stocks give you the most opportunity for something to go right.”
That doesn’t mean the AI trade is without risk. Cramer acknowledged that enthusiasm can become excessive. He also stressed, “I want to be diversified, and I certainly run a diversified” portfolio for the Investing Club.
Cramer’s Charitable Trust, the portfolio run by CNBC’s Investing Club, owns shares of META, MSFT, INTC, CRWD, PANW.
