What an Apple deal to buy Intel chips would mean for the iPhone maker

Every weekday, CNBC Investment Club with Jim Cramer publishes Homestretch, an actionable afternoon update just in time for the final hour of trading on Wall Street. Stocks rose to a new record high on Friday, capping a week in which the S&P 500 gained more than 2%. Once again, AI-related technology stocks are dominating the discussion. In a session where the Dow Jones Industrial Average was lower, technology rose more than 2.2%, thanks to big gains in semiconductors, especially those tied to memory chips. Intel was one of the biggest gainers after The Wall Street Journal reported that it had reached a preliminary agreement with Apple to produce chips for some of its devices. The move will diversify Apple's supply chain and help alleviate future advanced node constraints as production of AI data center chips increases at major semiconductor factories such as Taiwan Semiconductor. On Apple's earnings call last week, outgoing CEO Tim Cook explained that the main supply shortage right now is not memory, as many believe, but the availability of advanced nodes where SOCs (system on chip) are produced. Separately, Bloomberg reported that Broadcom is in talks with private lenders including Apollo Global Management and Blackstone for a financing deal worth about $35 billion. The story says the funding will help Broadcom fund the development of AI chips. It's unusual for a company like Broadcom to enter into an exclusive credit agreement. It has a strong financial profile: It's a low-leverage, free cash flow machine. If it needs cash to finance its fast-growing chip business, it could tap the bond market. It's unclear why Broadcom needed to negotiate a private loan, but we know CEO Hock Tan is a tough negotiator, and perhaps he's shopping around to get the most attractive terms. We're also seeing best-of-breed cybersecurity stocks continue to rightly elude the AI-replacing enterprise software thesis. Palo Alto Networks and CrowdStrike hit new highs in 2026, but both are still behind their best levels over the last 12 months. Next week will be a slower earnings week, with only 9 S&P 500 companies scheduled to report. Qnity Electronics is reporting before the opening bell on Tuesday, and we'll need to see the semiconductor industry's materials supplier move higher and higher to justify the stock's nearly 80% year-to-date rally. A few other notable reports on the AI theme are Cisco Systems and Applied Materials. On the data side, April is experiencing an important inflation week with the CPI and PPI reports. Both indices are expected to jump starting from March due to increasing energy prices. Following solid employment numbers reported Friday, the Federal Reserve's near-term focus may shift to inflation data, and higher CPI readings could raise the bar for rate cuts this year. Another report to pay attention to is April retail sales. (See here for a complete list of stocks in Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust.) When you subscribe to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trading alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable foundation's portfolio. If Jim talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trading alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTMENT CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY, TOGETHER WITH THE DISCLAIMERS. NO CIVIL OBLIGATIONS OR DUTIES EXIST OR SHALL BE RESULTING FROM YOUR RECEIVING ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTMENT CLUB. NO SPECIFIC RESULT OR PROFIT GUARANTEE IS MADE.