9am Hour: Taiwan Semi and AI Trade Pain, UnitedHealth Surges, SpaceX Falls Below IPO Price 7/16/26

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Regarding that seat on the committee, we're promoting......to most quarterly earnings...

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**Carl Quintanilla** (1:00)
Market insight and analysis. You're listening to the opening bell of CNBC's Squawk on the Street.
Good Thursday morning, welcome to Squawk on the Street. I'm Carl Quintanilla with Jim Cramer, at Post 9 of the New York Stock Exchange. David Faber has the morning off. Some continued weakness in tech, getting most of the attention this morning, as TSM results are unable to impress Sandisk down almost 40% from the recent high. Yields are higher despite the weakest retail sales print in five months. Oil's higher on reports the White House leaning toward more escalation in Iran. Looks like a return to $4 average gas prices are in our near future. A roadmap begins with this volatility in the AI trade. Taiwan Semi under pressure despite another record quarter. Different story for UNH, rising sharply on this quarterly beat and raised guidance. Also ahead, what's it next for SpaceX shares the day after they fell below that 135 IPO price for the first time.
Let's begin though with Taiwan Semi weighing on the chip sector despite posting a Q2 beat, 77% jump in profit from a year ago. The company also pledging an additional 100 billion to expand AI chip manufacturing in Arizona and that will bring Jim the total in the state to 265 This is over the course of a few years.

**Jim Cramer** (2:18)
Yeah, it's extraordinary. I know that I was listening to Steve Sedgwick this morning talking about the water issues, why would you do it all in Arizona? A lot of this is a closed water loop. I'm not worried about that. What I am worried about is how many years, how many years it will take.
Rene Haas, Italian-Borgian Red, at least three years before you build anything.
Now I will say this, the Taiwan Semiconductor, the only number that wasn't so good was that, you know, they only beat the estimates for revenue by 2.2% but net income 13.3%, earnings per share 12.5%. Initially when the number came out, it was well received. And then we start getting this influx of SK Hynix money. SK Hynix money is now going outflow because they've changed the larger requirements there. People aren't talking about that enough, but the government's trying to get things under control.

**Carl Quintanilla** (3:01)
Well, they're halting listings of leveraged DTS.

**Jim Cramer** (3:04)
Well, that means that there's just not as much buying power as there was.
Look, a lot of people just feel what's happened is there's a great unwind going on with the components. They all have parabolic moves. Parabolic moves coming down. You mentioned Sandisk down 40%. Parabolic move can be down 40-60% before you want to buy it. So you've got to be a little bit careful. We own Corning for the Chapel Trust, and the stock is down 120 points, and yet today, JPM William put the tax on the sellout. Well, thank you so much. But I will tell you this, the stock is still up from 70

**Carl Quintanilla** (3:32)
I got to say, though, was it last week, sell half your Micron looking pretty good?

**Jim Cramer** (3:37)
Yeah, it had to, because look, I hate parabolic moves, and I know that when you're in the midst of parabolic, that's a straight up move from a curb. When you're in the midst of them, the last thing you ever want to do is sell. People just say, you know, please, why are you trying to hurt me? I bumped into a guy on the street, he said, why are you trying to hurt me, Micron? Actually, it was my gardener. I said, no, I'm actually trying to help you. He said, no, you're trying to hurt me. I said, no, I'm trying to help you.