Considering that the former hedge fund manager and popular CNBC host, Jim Cramer, tends to avoid exposure to stocks that have recently completed substantial rallies, his most recent top pick comes as both a surprise and a strong endorsement: Intel (NASDAQ: INTC).
Indeed, the analyst noted that he sees tremendous promise in the semiconductor giant both, due to its turnaround story in the last 12 months and due to the numerous tailwinds he sees in its future.
According to Cramer, Intel is likely to benefit from the continued proliferation and adoption of artificial intelligence (AI), especially as agentic AI grows more common. The development is set to, according to the Mad Money host, directly boost the chipmaker’s ‘bread and butter’: central processing units (CPUs).
I don’t want to throw away the discipline of not touching a stock that’s rallied like crazy, but when it comes to tech hardware that’s connected to the data center, I think you may not have a choice. You can’t afford to care about where these stocks have been. You should only care about where they’re going. When it comes to Intel, I think the answer is up.
Additionally, along with showing a strong belief that AI is both a revolution and a revolution bound to continue and drive significant demand for ever-greater numbers of CPUs, Jim Cramer also remarked positively on Intel’s nascent foundry business.
The U.S. government has been undertaking a concentrated effort to reduce its reliance on Taiwanese manufacturing, both by backing domestic companies and reaching agreements with companies such as TSMC (NYSE: TSM) to move some of their production onshore.
Intel stock soars 500% from 2025 lows, evades June bloodbath
Elsewhere, part of Jim Cramer’s bullishness is the result of Intel’s newfound success and the staggering rally experienced by INTC stock in the last year.
Though it has been declining through the decade, the semiconductor giant entered a particularly dark chapter late in 2023 and early 2024 when it plummeted 60% from above $50 to lows below $20 in mid-2025.
The company’s fortunes reversed last summer, first a U.S. government investment and then an Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) investment that helped Intel stock soar more than 500% to $121.10 at the latest close.
Notably, INTC is one of the relatively few major equities that has not only largely evaded the early June bloodbath, but has also risen 10.77% in the last eighteen days.
Lastly, Intel shares’ gains appear poised to only grow larger in the coming weeks, given that President Donald Trump’s remarks regarding a partnership between the chipmaker and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) led to an 8.96% upsurge on Thursday, June 18, in the pre-market.
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