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

An important development from the financial markets: Every weekday, the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer releases the Homestretch — an actionable afternoon update, just in time for the last hour of trading on Wall Street. Stocks are rallying to another new record high on Friday, capping off a week in which the S & P 500 gained more than 2%. Once again, AI-related technology stocks are dominating the conversation.

In a session when the Dow Jones Industrial Average was lower, tech surged more than 2. 2% thanks to another round of big gains in semiconductors, especially those tied to memory chips. Intel was one of the biggest gainers after The Wall Street Journal reported it had reached a preliminary deal with Apple to make chips for some of its devices.

Economic Details

The move would diversify Apple's supply chain and help alleviate future advanced-node constraints as production of AI data center chips grows at major semiconductor fabs, such as Taiwan Semiconductor . On Apple's earnings call last week, outgoing CEO Tim Cook explained that its primary supply constraint right now was the availability of the advanced nodes on which its SOCs (system-on-chip) are produced, not memory, as many believed. Separately, Bloomberg reported that Broadcom held talks with private credit lender s, including Apollo Global Management and Blackstone , over a roughly $35 billion financing deal.

The story said the financing would help Broadcom fund the development of its AI chips. It's a bit unusual for a company like Broadcom to seek a private credit deal. It has a strong financial profile: a free cash flow machine with low leverage.

It could tap the bond market if it needs cash to fund its fast-growing chip business. It's unclear why Broadcom would need to talk to private credit, but we know CEO Hock Tan as a tough negotiator, and maybe he's shopping around to get the most attractive terms. We're also seeing the best-of-breed cybersecurity stocks continue to — and rightfully — break free from the AI-replacing-enterprise-software thesis.

Analyst Views

Palo Alto Networks and CrowdStrike both made new highs for 2026, though both are still off their best levels over the past 12 months. Next week is a slower earnings week , with only 9 S & P 500 companies scheduled to report. Qnity Electronics reports before the opening bell on Tuesday, and we'll need to see the materials supplier to the semiconductor industry beat and raise to justify the stock's roughly 80% year-to-date advance.

A few other notable reports on the AI theme are Cisco Systems and Applied Materials . On the data side, it's an important inflation week , with the April CPI and PPI reports. Both indices are expected to have jumped from March due to rising energy prices.

After the solid jobs numbers reported Friday, the Federal Reserve's near-term focus may shift to inflation data, and a high CPI reading makes the bar for rate cuts this year higher. Another report to keep an eye on is the April retail sales. (See here for a full list of the stocks in Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust.

Financial markets are tracking the development closely as investors assess the likely impact.