For most of the summer, investors pulled money out of chipmakers and data center names and moved it into health care, banks, and retailers.
The AI infrastructure trade led the market for two years. This summer, it underperformed.
Jim Cramer says that phase is over. On CNBC’s “Mad Money,” the host declared that the AI data center trade has regained market leadership.
He pointed to some events over a few days that changed the setup, naming six stocks driving the rebound. All six closed higher that session and are outperforming the S&P 500 so far in 2026.
Here is what Cramer said, why it happened, and what investors should watch before chasing the move.
Why Jim Cramer says the AI data center trade is back
Cramer’s argument rests on one idea: These stocks did not fall because the businesses were broken.
The six stocks had posted smaller gains than financial, health care, and retail stocks for several weeks. Then, on Wednesday, Aug. 12, all six rose together in a single trading session.
Cramer said the size of that one-day move made it one of the most important sessions he’d seen for the group.
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The sell-off had a specific cause. Leopold Aschenbrenner’s hedge fund, Situational Awareness, peaked near $45 billion in early July.
It then took margin calls from its prime brokers and sold its leveraged stock portfolio to Ken Griffin’s Citadel at a discount, CNBC reported.
The stocks fell because a leveraged fund was forced to sell, not because the companies reported weak earnings. That’s an important distinction.
A forced sale says nothing about whether a business is doing well. It only says the seller ran out of room to hold the position.
The 6 stocks Cramer named and how far they fell
Cramer called the group “the fabled six fighting bulls.”
The names are Nvidia (NVDA), CoreWeave (CRWV), Nebius (NBIS), Intel (INTC), Super Micro Computer (SMCI), and Lumentum (LITE).
Each stock fell sharply from its 2026 high once the forced selling began. Here is how much each one dropped, according to Yahoo Finance.
How the 6 fell from their highs
- CoreWeave: Down 56%
- Supermicro: Down 53%
- Nebius: Down 48%
- Lumentum: Down 43%
- Intel: Down 42%
For context, the Nasdaq 100 fell just 11% over the same stretch. The six stocks were affected much more than the market, which is what a leverage-driven sell-off looks like.
What changed in a single week to shift sentiment
Cramer said prices still sit below their peaks. But he sees four specific developments that support higher prices ahead.
The catalysts behind the rebound
- Intel demand: Investors wanted more Intel stock than expected. The company raised its stock offering to $20 billion from $15 billion.
- Earnings beats: Supermicro and Lumentum both beat earnings expectations. Nebius followed with a strong quarter of its own. Supermicro missed on revenue, but beat on profit.
- GPU resale value: CoreWeave’s results showed that older Nvidia chips keep their value longer than expected. This matters because AI companies borrow money using their chips as collateral.
- Cooler inflation: The July Consumer Price Index, which measures how fast prices rise, came in lower than feared. That eased pressure on the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates high, which helps growth stocks like these.
Each catalyst addresses a different worry investors had about AI stocks. Cramer said together, they show the AI buildout is speeding up, not slowing down.
Why the CoreWeave earnings mattered more than the rest
One result carried extra weight.
CoreWeave reported second-quarter revenue of $2.58 billion. That’s up 112% from a year earlier, according to CNBC. The company also raised its full-year guidance, and the stock jumped nearly 20% the next day.
Related: Intel’s stock buybacks: History & investor impact explained
But the revenue number wasn’t the most important part. The real news was about the chips that CoreWeave uses.
The quarter showed that older Nvidia GPUs hold their value much longer than skeptics expected.
Cramer compared it to jewelry rather than a car. A car loses much of its value the moment you drive it off the lot. These chips don’t work that way.
Here’s why that detail matters so much.
Nvidia recently announced a $500 billion financing plan with six large asset managers. The idea is to let companies use their computing hardware as collateral for loans, the same way someone might use a house or a car to secure a loan.
For that plan to work, the hardware needs to hold its value over time.
CoreWeave’s results are early evidence that it does. If GPUs keep their value, the loans behind the AI buildout carry less risk.
How the 6 stocks have performed in 2026
Even after the summer decline, every name in the group is ahead of the market this year.
The S&P 500 has gained about 13% in 2026. All six beat it.
2026 gains for Cramer’s 6, according to Google Finance
- Nebius: Up about 210%
- Intel: Up about 174%
- Lumentum: Up about 153%
- CoreWeave: Up about 50%
- Supermicro: Up about 29%
- Nvidia: Up about 20%
The gap between the gains is wide. Nebius has been the clear winner, while Nvidia, the largest and most owned name, has posted the smallest gain of the group.
Where the bulls could be wrong
Cramer’s call is a starting point, not a final answer. The setup that excites him also worries other investors.
Michael Burry is one of them. He recently added to a short bet against Nebius at $247a share.
His argument centers on Nebius’s contract pricing. He believes it signals that AI computing power could lose value faster than the company expects.
CoreWeave carries its own risk. The company is borrowing heavily to fund its buildout. Bank of America expects CoreWeave to burn through nearly $23.8 billion in cash in 2026 alone.
The bank still kept a buy rating and a $140 price target, but the cash burn is a real cost investors are taking on.
Timing adds a third risk. These six stocks jumped 20% to 34% in a single session before Cramer made his call. Buying after a move that large means paying a higher price.
What to watch before following the trade
The next few quarters will prove who is right.
Signals that would confirm the rebound
- Backlog conversion: Whether CoreWeave and Nebius turn signed contracts into actual revenue on schedule
- Contract pricing: Whether new deals hold their higher margins or fade, which is the exact point Burry is testing
- Power delivery: Whether operators bring promised data center capacity online without long delays
- Rate path: Whether inflation stays low enough for the Federal Reserve to keep cutting
If those four signals hold up, Cramer’s case gets stronger. If contract pricing drops or spending outpaces revenue, that supports the skeptics instead.
For most investors, the safer approach is simple. Watch these six stocks for now instead of buying immediately.
Before adding new money, decide how much a sudden 20% drop would cost you and whether you could handle that loss. Then wait for the next round of earnings reports to confirm the trend is real.
Related: Intel’s CFO called his shot, but shareholders pay the price
