Hock Tan tells Cramer: no AI slowdown, orders strong

The backdrop here is Broadcom's role as one of the few firms able to design custom AI chips that big technology companies use to supplement NVIDIA's high-power and expensive AI chips. That position is what makes the demand question so sensitive: if orders for those custom chips hold up, Broadcom's growth narrative stays intact, and if they do not, the story changes quickly. Cramer's exchange with Tan is the latest attempt to settle that debate, with Tan rejecting the premise of a slowdown outright.

The body's earnings figures give both sides something to hold onto. During the quarter, revenue grew by 86%, AI semiconductor revenue jumped by 221%, and fiscal year 2026 guidance implied 186% annual AI revenue growth. Tan reaffirmed that Broadcom could pull in $115 billion in annual AI chip sales in 2027 and $230 billion in 2028. Against that, the fiscal Q4 guide of $34.8 billion in revenue missed analyst estimates of $35.03 billion, and the Q4 gross margin guide of 73% marked a five point annual drop due to a higher mix of XPU sales, which need more memory chips in a market seeing historic prices.

What the outcome hinges on is whether the order momentum Tan describes actually shows up in reported results, since estimates have suggested that 71% of Broadcom's fiscal 2027 and 2028 XPU deployment could rely on OpenAI and Anthropic. That concentration looks like the thing to watch, because a large share of future orders may come from firms whose leaders are now calling for AI development to slow. For investors in AI chip names, the tension between Tan's confidence and the Q4 guidance miss is likely to remain the central question.