Jim Cramer is taking his Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC) lovefest a step further, tying his top stock pick directly to Wednesday’s bullish tone out of the latest earnings from ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML). 

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In a new post, Cramer reiterated Intel is his "favorite stock" and stressed that the chipmaker is now the third-largest customer of ASML. This Dutch lithography powerhouse just laid out fresh capacity expansion plans as AI demand refuses to cool.

Cramer Ties his Top Pick to ASML’s AI Spending Boom

ASML’s second-quarter results underscored why Cramer keeps leaning into the capex side of the AI trade. The company delivered another quarter of strong top-line growth and a robust order book, then doubled down with a bold capacity build-out to support advanced logic and memory customers racing to add AI compute. 

Management highlighted continued heavy spending from leading-edge chipmakers deploying EUV and high‑NA tools, framing the AI boom as a multi‑year investment cycle rather than a short fad. 

ASML stock initially popped on the report before settling into choppy trading as investors weighed rich valuations against an increasingly aggressive growth roadmap.

Why a Strong ASML Print Matters for Cramer’s Intel Thesis

That backdrop is tailor‑made for Cramer’s Intel call. He has already named Intel his favorite holding in his charitable trust, arguing that CEO Lip‑Bu Tan has turned the company into a credible AI foundry contender after a string of execution wins. 

Intel’s deepening relationship with ASML — including its role as a top‑three customer for advanced EUV systems — gives the turnaround story a concrete capex backbone that traders can track through ASML’s bookings and shipment commentary each quarter. 

If ASML is confident enough to push capacity higher on the back of AI‑driven demand, Cramer’s logic goes, then the customers funding that build‑out should be in a strong position as well.

Cramer is effectively telling the market that investors who buy the ASML AI‑picks‑and‑shovels thesis should own at least one of the biggest customers — and for him, that customer is Intel.

This image was generated using artificial intelligence via Gemini.