Cramer slams Amazon for considering a circular AI deal reminiscent of the dotcom bubble

Jim Cramer implores Amazon not to engage in "sham-like" circular AI deals that remind him of the kind of speculation that fueled the 1990s dotcom bubble that burst more than two decades ago. According to multiple reports on Wednesday, Amazon is in talks about a potential $10 billion investment in OpenAI in exchange for the ChatGPT creator agreeing to use the cloud giant's custom AI chips. "They really need Trainium chips sold so badly that they give somebody $10 billion to buy them," Jim said during the Club's Morning Meeting on Wednesday . "I would love to see them not play this game." "I really respect Amazon, and this shocks me that they're willing to put up with this," Jim said on "Squawk on the Street" earlier Wednesday. "You can't do these deals. These deals are not real." Over the past several years, many investors have been sounding the alarm over the growing levels of AI-related spending from megacap hyperscalers to compete in the so-called AI arms race. The push for AI requires the buildout of data centers and high-performance chips to run the systems. Jim said the current spate of interconnected investment activity is similar to deals in the lead-up to the year 2000. "The market is not going to let this happen," Jim predicted, calling the stock market a "cruel task master," in a stark warning about excess that drove the tech-heavy Nasdaq to a then-record high in March 2000 and the 78% crash over 2½ years that followed. OpenAI has been on a deal spree in 2025, securing massive amounts of computing power from firms including Nvidia , Advanced Micro Devices , Oracle , and Amazon's cloud unit. That has amounted to the AI startup making $1.4 trillion in infrastructure commitments in recent months. Jim recently referred to OpenAI's deal activity as "2000 in a nutshell," as it continues to make aggressive, leveraged bets, raising concerns about an AI bubble. (Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust is long AMZN, NVDA. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.