Jim Cramer: "Anthropic Is the Winner Now" as Enterprises Move to Slash Tech Budgets in Half
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Cramer called Anthropic the enterprise AI profit winner as CRM sinks 37% and MU surges 233% on exploding memory demand.
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Starbucks evaluating a 50% cut to its $400 million tech budget signals every SaaS incumbent faces imminent re-underwriting.
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Chinese open-source AI models pose the biggest threat to Anthropic's pricing power if CFOs find cheaper tokens that clear their ROI bar.
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On CNBC's Squawk on the Street on July 9, 2026, Jim Cramer argued that the real profit engine of the enterprise AI wave sits at the model layer, which is collecting the checks hyperscalers are writing. "Anthropic is the one that's actually making a lot of money doing some work on Salesforce," Cramer said, going on to call the company "the winner now" even as he added, "I don't like them. They're bullies. Anthropic. They're doing very well."
Cramer paired the Anthropic call with a warning that enterprise software budgets are about to get squeezed. He cited Starbucks, which under CEO Brian Niccol is spending roughly $400 million on tech and evaluating cuts of up to 50%. If large customers like Starbucks are willing to review major tech spending and consider deep cuts, SaaS incumbents may face the tougher question of whether AI agents will generate enough new revenue before they start replacing old software seats.
The Three AI Spending Buckets: Cybersecurity, Memory, and Tokens
Cramer leaned on a framework he attributed to Key analyst Jack Snader: enterprises are funneling AI dollars into three categories, in order: cybersecurity, memory hardware, and tokens. "They're calling in George Kurtz," (CrowdStrike's CEO) Cramer said of the first wave. "Cyber... cybersecurity. And then next is actually hardware. And that's why we see Micron go up." He also flagged that Anthropic salespeople have been told to throttle back due to token constraints, a demand signal that speaks louder than any guide-up.
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Salesforce Is Caught in the Budget-Cut Crosshairs
Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) sits directly in the crosshairs of the Starbucks-style budget review. Marc Benioff's defense is Agentforce, which he described as "the biggest growth opportunity for our customers, and for Salesforce."
The numbers back the pivot: Agentforce ARR hit $1.2 billion in Q1 FY27, up 205% YoY, with combined Agentforce and Data 360 ARR of roughly $3.4 billion. The stock tells the other side of the story CRM shares are down 36.79% year-to-date and 38.60% over one year, trading around $162. Investors are asking whether agents will replace seats faster than Salesforce can monetize them.