Mad Money w/ Jim Cramer 9/12/25

Summary

Mad Money w/ Jim Cramer (9/12/25) – Special Kentucky Edition

Podcast: Mad Money w/ Jim Cramer
Host: Jim Cramer, CNBC
Air Date: September 12, 2025
Episode Theme:
Live from Corning’s flagship glass manufacturing plant in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, Jim Cramer hosts a special edition focused on the enduring power of American innovation, manufacturing, and the evolving supply chain partnerships between Apple and Corning. The episode features exclusive interviews with Tim Cook (CEO of Apple) and Wendell Weeks (Chairman/CEO of Corning), delving into the reshoring of high-tech manufacturing, Apple’s commitment to domestic investment, and Corning’s booming business beyond consumer electronics. Plus, Cramer’s regular segments on the week ahead, stock calls, and his signature Lightning Round.

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Episode Overview

• Main Theme:
  American innovation and manufacturing resurgence, spotlighting Corning’s Kentucky facility – the new sole producer of glass for Apple’s iPhone and Apple Watch. Discussion ranges from the Apple–Corning partnership, U.S. supply chain challenges, and how these moves impact American jobs, technology leadership, and stock market dynamics.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. State of the Market & Upcoming Week (01:31–08:53)

• Market Recap:
  The S&P 500 has had five positive weeks out of the last six, defying September’s historic reputation for poor performance.
  • “Maybe today was a well-deserved breather for the bulls... We at Mad Money, however, are obviously going out with a bang as we find ourselves in Corning's Harrodsburg, Kentucky glass plant...” — Jim Cramer (01:31)
• Market Game Plan – Week Ahead:
  • Monday: Possible Paramount Skydance–Warner Brothers Discovery acquisition (hold for $20+ per share if involved).
  • Tuesday: Retail sales data; strong sales could complicate anticipated Fed interest rate cuts on Wednesday.
  • Wednesday: Cracker Barrel earnings; previous logo change backfired but potential for rebound.
  • Thursday: Olive Garden parent Darden and FedEx report; Lennar (homebuilder) also due.
  • Friday: Quiet, but volatility remains possible.

2. Stock Callers (Lightning Preview) (08:53–10:00)

• IBM: Cramer bullish, recommends adding on weakness.
• AMD: Strong leadership under Lisa Su, plenty of room in the market for both AMD and Nvidia. Buys at $158 justified.
  • “I think individual companies will continue to dominate this market even though next week could be tricky.” — Jim Cramer (08:54)

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Exclusive Interview: Tim Cook (Apple) & Wendell Weeks (Corning)

The Expansion of Corning’s Kentucky Plant & Partnership with Apple

Segment Start: 12:15

• Corning’s Commitment: The Harrodsburg facility will now dedicate 100% of its production to Apple, supplying “all the cover glass for all the iPhones made in the world.” — Wendell Weeks (12:44)
• Shifting Manufacturing Back to the U.S.:
  • Cook highlights why innovation, quality, and cost can make U.S.-made products competitive:
    “We look at a lot of things when we decide who to partner with... Corning brings so much innovation to the table. The phone you’re holding is so thin and so light, but we want it to be the most durable phone ever.” — Tim Cook (13:27)
  • The new “ceramic shield” glass is 50% stronger than the prior generation, enabling lighter, more durable iPhones and watches. — Wendell Weeks (14:52)

Why Not Outsource?

• “Didn’t people just say, you know what, let's just outsource this to someplace that costs a lot less and it'll all be the same quality anyway?”
  — Jim Cramer (13:11)
• Cook’s reply: The focus is on innovation, not commoditization.

Supply Chain Localization & U.S. Semiconductor Push

• “The glass is a very key component of the iPhone... We're beginning the process this year of building system on a chips in Arizona with TSMC.”
  — Tim Cook (15:35)

Protecting Proprietary Innovation

• Apple’s material science contracts with Corning are exclusive—other companies (like Samsung) can’t get access to the same technology:
  • “Everything we do for Apple is 100% only for Apple. And so this becomes integrated right from the sand to the design. And this type of high integration makes it almost impossible to replicate.” — Wendell Weeks (17:08)
  • “We say no... If you want to work with us to innovate and you're going to develop a new to the world material, we'll be happy to work with you on that. But Apple's materials are Apple's material.” — Wendell Weeks (18:07)

Reshoring = Real Jobs

• The expansion is not symbolic; global production of iPhone and Apple Watch glass moving to Kentucky means real job creation and volume:
  • “There's an extraordinary amount of increased volume moving here now.” — Tim Cook (18:49)

The “Fight Club” of Innovation

• Cramer asks for a peek at next-generation products; Weeks jokes:
  • “First rule of dealing with Apple, it's a little like Fight Club. First rule of Fight Club is you don't talk about Fight Club.” — Wendell Weeks (19:22)
  • “…we’re not going to talk about the next generation of products we're doing for my friend here.” — Wendell Weeks (19:36)

The $600 Billion U.S. Investment Plan

• Apple’s total investment in American manufacturing/supply chain to reach $600 billion, touching 9,000 suppliers and supporting 450,000 U.S. jobs.
  • “We do business with 9,000 different partners across the US... in all 50 states.” — Tim Cook (26:25)

Economic Rationale

• Cramer presses Cook on whether this is a shareholder-driven or political move.
• “It's absolutely in the best interest of the shareholder. I think it's also in the best interest of the employees and America.” — Tim Cook (28:35)

Social Compact of Manufacturing & Skills

• Weeks describes Corning’s view that operating plants in small communities is a long-term “social contract.”
  • “When we dedicate a plant in a community, we view that as a social contract... When you walk around the factory, you'll meet people who their third generation Corning employees in this factory. But what the people today are doing has nothing to do with what their grandfather did.” — Wendell Weeks (24:47)

Strength of U.S. Manufacturing

• “This can be a low cost platform as well as an innovative platform. We've already proven it in fiber optics... But like we're doing here, it takes innovation.” — Wendell Weeks (30:46)

Revitalizing American Communities

• Cook discusses the ripple effect of manufacturing plants in small towns, and Apple's new manufacturing academy in Detroit to train future workforces.
  • “It's a virtuous cycle to create a hub of activity. And we're doing that across America in 79 different factories now.” — Tim Cook (31:51)

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Corning’s Broader Business: Data Centers & Solar (33:53–42:11)

Specialty Glass & Fiber Optic Expansion

• Corning’s Data Center Boom:
  • “Our fastest growing business right now”—data center networking. — Wendell Weeks (35:07)
  • A single, massive Meta data center (the “Big Link L.A. campus”) will require “8 million miles of fiber... enough to go around the equator 320 times.” — Wendell Weeks (36:40)
• Optical Fiber’s Advantages Over Copper:
  • “If we could bring glass to the backplane of the server... it would be more power efficient... and lead to lower cost.” — Wendell Weeks (37:37)

Diversification & Investment Impact

• Growth is secular, tied to AI, scaling networks, and coming innovations in energy, like solar:
  • “Our new solar business... largest American-made ingot wafer plant right in Michigan... going to triple our run rate.” — Wendell Weeks (39:14)

Business Philosophy & Tariffs

• Corning is largely unaffected by tariffs thanks to its customer-proximate, innovation-driven model:
  • “90% of our U.S. revenue is created by U.S. origin products. Only 1% of what we sell in the United States we make in China.” — Wendell Weeks (40:35)

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The Lightning Round (42:18–46:09)

Cramer rapidly answers stockholder questions:

• OpenDoor: Sell (“don’t want to be in a meme stock”)
• Terra Wolf: “Kaput,” move on to higher quality names.
• Hubbell: Hold, don’t chase (“wait for it to come down a bit”)
• Lumentum: Sell half, take profits.
• Summit Therapeutics: Negative news, get out; doesn’t expect a comeback.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “When you dedicate a plant in a community, we view that as a social contract.”
  — Wendell Weeks (24:47)
• “We do business with 9,000 different partners across the US... 450,000 jobs collectively across that footprint.”
  — Tim Cook (26:25)
• “This can be a low cost platform as well as an innovative platform. We've already proven it...”
  — Wendell Weeks (30:46)
• “It takes innovation. And that's what Tim and I are doing together.”
  — Wendell Weeks (31:05)
• “[Apple's shift to US manufacturing is] absolutely in the best interest of the shareholder...”
  — Tim Cook (28:35)
• “First Rule of Fight Club... you don't talk about Fight Club.”
  — Wendell Weeks (19:22, joking about Apple secrecy)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Market Recap & Game Plan: 01:31–08:53
• Stock Questions: 08:53–10:00
• Exclusive Interview (Apple & Corning): 12:15–22:58, 22:58–33:42 (part 2)
• Corning’s Business Beyond Apple: 33:53–42:11
• Lightning Round: 42:18–46:09

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Tone & Style

Cramer’s signature blend of energy—evangelical about American manufacturing, bullish (yet pragmatic) on stocks, and effortlessly colloquial. Both Cook and Weeks are measured and candid, emphasizing long-term vision, innovation, and social responsibility without political grandstanding.

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Summary Conclusion

Jim Cramer’s Mad Money episode from Harrodsburg, Kentucky, is a celebration of America’s manufacturing resurgence, candidly exposing the scale, motivation, and economic benefits behind Apple and Corning’s deepening partnership. It’s also a reassurance to investors that both innovation and practicality drive these decisions, not just policy or geopolitics. Corning’s trajectory into data centers and clean energy underscores the broader durability of American industrial leadership—making this episode a must-listen for anyone interested in the intersection of Main Street, Wall Street, and Silicon Valley.

Transcript

[Jim Cramer]

On Fox one, you can stream your favorite news, sports and entertainment live all in one app. It's raw and unfiltered. This is the best thing ever. Watch breaking news as it breaks. Breaking.

[Wendell Weeks]

Tonight, we're following two major stories.

[Jim Cramer]

Bam. And catch History in the making. Gimme Meet Freddy. Debates, Drama. Touchdown.

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[Jim Cramer]

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[Jim Cramer]

We'Re boots on the ground in bluegrass country, deep in the rolling hills of Kentucky, where innovation is forging a new frontier. As the next chapter of global trade unfolds, America is leaning into what has always been its best export hard work powered by ingenuity and yes, grit. Small town America is feeling big time breakthroughs, turning grains of sand into the glass that acts as armor for billions of iPhones around the globe. It's high tech manufacturing made right here in the heartland and driving a new industrial revolution. We're coming to you from Corning's plant in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, a town where tradition runs deep and community runs strong. Mad Money's Invest in America begins now. Hey, I'm Kramer. Welcome to a special Kentucky edition of Mad Money. Welcome to Cramerica. Other people make friends. I'm just trying to make you some money. My job is not just to entertain, but to educate, to teach you. So call me at 1-800-743-CNBC or tweet me at Jim Cramer. Maybe today was a well deserved breather for the bulls. The S&P 500 has been positive for five of the last six weeks, which is crazy when you consider we're in historically horrible month of September. So it doesn't surprise me to see this week ending with a whimper. Dow falling 273 points, S&P dipping.05%, Nasdaq gaining point four or five. We at Mad Money, however, are obviously going out with a bang as we find ourselves in Corny's Harrisburg, Kentucky glass plant, the one that makes all the glass that covers your iPhone or your Apple watch. What's the occasion? The launch of the iPhone 17 in all of its various flavors, which I found dazzling even if a bunch of Wall street analysts who haven't even seen the darn thing already have said it's ho hum. I ve disagree. Who better to watch it than with Tim Cook himself, who's making a point of the need to partner with great American companies like Corning to fulfill his pledge to invest $600 billion in American manufacturing. You will be spending a lot of time with Tim today. Prepare to be impressed by his commitment. It's a nihilism free show from Harrodsburg, Kentucky. Also, learn a lot from our host, the indomitable Wendell Weeks, Chairman CEO of Corning, who's been Apple's partner making the special phone glass ever since Steve Jobs insisted on creating a type of glass that could take more punishment than any other. At least any other substrate, according to the recipient of $2.5 billion from Apple. So they can take over all the watch and phone glass production from overseas. Bring it right here. Still, it's Friday, which means I got a game plan to do. So let's get right to work. Monday we find out a Paramount Skydance is serious about acquiring Warner Brothers Discovery, the suddenly red hot media company with a steamy stock. CEO David Zaslav's been crowing to anyone who listened that as he cleans up the balance sheet while dominating the box office, making some of the best shows for Apple TV and so many others that his stock deserves to soar. Turns out he was right, although it didn't happen until the takeover. Talk from Paramount. Skydance run by David Olson? Yes, son of Larry Ellison, who founded Oracle, and depending on the action in the market, he's either the world's richest or second richest man. Who knows Zaslav. Once at auction, Apple, Amazon, Netflix. I don't know who else will bid, but we'll be all over it on Monday. If you own it, hold out for at least 20 bucks, please, although I think it's worth a lot more. Tuesday we get retail Sales. We know this is a set of numbers that's supposedly weakening. If it doesn't, that'd be pretty darn shocking to the pessimists who are always talking up the dollar stores. It could be embarrassing to the Fed if retail sales are too strong. Why embarrassing? Because Jay Powell, chairman of the Federal Reserve, will most likely cut interest rates by a quarter of a point next Wednesday. And you don't want a strong retail sales number coming out the day before. Spoil the nerve. The Powell needs to cut cut because employment slowing even as inflation's still kind of a problem. There'll be people criticize him either way. I think President Trump will just keep mocking him for being too late. He likes to do that kind of stuff. But in fairness, the tariffs have made Powell's job a lot harder. From the Fed's perspective, this is a no win situation. They cut, inflation might run rampant, but if they don't cut, the economy might deteriorate dramatically. That's why I'm glad I'm not the Fed chairman. Wednesday's got a little stock trammer going for it as Cracker Bow reports earnings. Now talk about a situation is in flux. CEO Julie Messina, we've had her on. I think she's terrific. She had this thing rocking. What a turn. Actually decided to redo the logo, getting rid of the old man in a barrel. It turned out to be ill advised as old timer, as he's known, apparently had lots of fans, including President Trump, who'd have thunkin she quickly backtracked. But the stock took a real hit. Good companies can put this kind of stuff behind them fast. Let's hope that's what Messino does. Thursday morning we get results from Garden, parent of Olive Garden and a bunch of other restaurant chains. I wish I could just say go buy it, but the restaurant group has suddenly gotten real out of favor. Let's do this. If you went on a piece of the Olive Garden, its principal property, buy small ahead of the quarter, maybe on Wednesday, then pounce if the stock goes down, the results. This is a consistent company. Good dividend, by the way. Even if people think that restaurants have gotten too unpredictable after the close. FedEx reports in the analyst have been lower numbers and lower numbers because of an expected decline in Chinese packages now that they no longer have that tariff exemption. Lennar reports to it. Here's a homebuilder that's a superb operator. It's done well throughout the bond turmoil that we've seen in recent months. We need long term interest rates to stay Low to justify buying a home builder. That's a tough call right now. Friday at last, it's quiet. We need it. The Bull's been rampaging. That doesn't mean the Bears can't be counted out. We have heard from them lately. They just haven't been all that evident since the month began. Maybe the Bears don't know it's September. Bottom line, we've still got individual companies that are dominating the market with a great performance. And I think that's going to continue even as next week's a little tricky. Remember, September's almost never easy. Let's take calls. I say we start. How about Brian in Florida? Brian. Hey, Brian. What's happening? Yeah, you know, I'm an IBM shareholder and finally. That's good. Yeah. In the last couple years it broke out. We almost hit 300 at the beginning of July. And after fairly positive earnings. All these comments I hear are positive that stock is sinking. Be fair, Brian. That was not. They did not have a perfect quarter. But you know what? I thought that was the opportunity we have been waiting to buy. And that's exactly what you should do. I think you should actually buy more. That's how good I feel Arvind Christian is doing. This is the quarter. I've been telling Jeff marks that 22 times earnings. He's my partner, obviously, with my terrible trust. 22 times earnings. This one works. Let's go to Sam in Massachusetts. Sam, Jim, congratulations on the big interview with Tim Cook. That was pretty cool to see. So thank you. I appreciate that.

[Wendell Weeks]

Yeah, it's great at the Corning facility.

[Jim Cramer]

Anyway, I'm calling today because I'm curious what you think of AMD here at a quarter of a trillion dollars. You know, got a great leadership. I think that there's enough room in this market for both AMD and Nvidia. Now that he's good at the training, they're good at the inference. Advanced Micro's got a lot of good things going for it. I think Lisa Sue's terrific. Far be it for me to say that you shouldn't buy that stock at 158 anyway. I think individual companies will continue to dominate this market even though next week could be tricky. Remember, September is never, never an easy month to navigate. Don't get cocky. We're just getting started here at Corning's Harrisburg Glass facility. Coming up, my friend. Stop moving. Maybe get that thing rolling again. Coming up, my exclusive sit down with Apple's Tim Cook and courting's Wendell Weeks. Two powerhouses, one conversation right here from the heartland. You do not want to miss it. So stay with Kramer.

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[Jim Cramer]

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[Jim Cramer]

We came here to Harrodsburg, Kentucky to check out Corning's facility that will soon produce all the covered glass for the iPhone and the Apple Watch thanks to a major upcoming expansion or Today I got the chance to speak with Wendell Weeks. He's the Chairman and CEO of Corning and Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple. Take a look. Well Tim and Wendell, this is just an incredible place and I want to start with Wendell, our host, to say what the heck are we doing in Harrodsburg, Kentucky?

[Wendell Weeks]

Well, hey, you got to love a great manufacturing plan, but the news today really is about Apple. What we're doing here is we're dedicating 100% of this facility to Apple to produce 100% of the COVID glass for all the iPhones made in the world will now be made in Harrodsburg, Kentucky.

[Jim Cramer]

Well, it's kind of amazing because I think people might have thought at one time or another, you can't make this stuff in America. This is the kind of thing that I think we got away from, Tim. Didn't people just say, you know what, let's just outsource this to someplace that costs a lot less and it'll all be the same quality anyway?

[Tim Cook]

You know what, what we do is we look at a lot of things when we decide who to work with. And one of the most important one is this innovation. Corning brings so much innovation to the table. The fun that you're holding, holding, obviously is so thin and so light, but we want it to be the most durable phone ever. And so the ceramic shield that Wendell really brings to the table here with our help, allows that. It's one of the enablers of that. And so we look at a lot of things when we decide who to partner with.

[Jim Cramer]

All right, now, partnering with, I mean, you're talking about putting a two part, $2.5 billion commitment. Yeah. What are these the kind of things, Tim, where we have no idea right now in our brains, we can't comprehend what could come from here. But because the ingenuity of this place and your innovation center, we're going to see things that we just can't even dream of right now.

[Tim Cook]

That's absolutely true. I mean, we have our engineering teams work together and they're already working on future generations. But today we're talking about the ceramic shield, too. And we couldn't be prouder of the accomplishment from the teams.

[Jim Cramer]

Well, we thought Gorilla glass was the most powerful, strongest thing in the world. Tell us when, why we want this because it's, first of all, I mean, I can take it slight. That doesn't take a genius. But there's something about this that is, I guess you could say, almost indestructible.

[Wendell Weeks]

Yes. Well, it's about 50% stronger than the first ceramic shield. And then Apple wanted that so that they could do this creative and stunning design. Because when you're trying to make something that basically is a glass shell and at the same time super light, but people's use case is the same. They want. They came to us to ask us for something more durable.

[Jim Cramer]

Well, let's talk about this supply chain issue. We often hear, well, the president is saying this, and one day I want the iPhone to be made here, not anywhere else. I think, don't you have to start piece by piece? You need to. Let's say you need glass end to end, and you're doing that here.

[Tim Cook]

Yeah, that's right. The glass is a very key component of the iPhone. You know, it's what you hold, it's what the front has become is a sheet of glass. That's, it's. It was our vision from the onset to get it to that. And so it's a key component. And of course, there are other key components as well. The system on a chip that's in there. We are beginning the process this year of building system on a chips in Arizona with tsmc. And so there's a lot of things that we're doing in the United States and a lot that we can do.

[Jim Cramer]

Franklin, now my travel trust has a position in Apple's long standing. I know I always expect Apple to be doing the best for customers, best for shareholders. Is it right to put $2.5 billion here? Is this the best place? Or is there also another component that you have to do which is you have to stay? We also want to help the workforce.

[Tim Cook]

This is the place to put it. And so I feel very confident in that. Because when you look at innovation, when you look at the cost, when you look at the quality, these are all things that are factoring to our decisions. This is a great place.

[Jim Cramer]

Is it not true that there will be people who try to replicate this? But because of the standards of Corning, which we all know from going back decades and decades, they can't do it. They may even have the specs and they can't. They can't. Can't imitate. Why?

[Wendell Weeks]

Well, you have two. And when it comes to Apple products, there's two things that are super hard to replicate. First is our expertise that we bring from 175 years of just being our slice to the periodic table. But then on top of that, we work with Apple. We've been doing almost two decades in joint teams where Apple people are here all the time, they're in our labs all the time. And everything we do for Apple is 100% only for Apple. And so this becomes integrated right from the sand to the design. And this type of high integration makes it almost impossible to replicate.

[Jim Cramer]

But you Also work with Samsung. They're a value client. How about a. They say, you know what? We want some of that technology that the Apple 2.5 billion technology. What happens, I mean, I know you couldn't be happy if that occurs.

[Wendell Weeks]

So we say no. And what we say to Sam Sung is if you want to work with us to innovate and you're going to develop a new to the world material, we'll be happy to work with you on that. But Apple's materials are Apple's material.

[Jim Cramer]

Now when you say that everything's going to be made here, was it, I think people say, oh come on, it was always made there anyway. That's not true. You are moving and bringing jobs here that used to be elsewhere because you want to make it in America and make it strong.

[Tim Cook]

That's absolutely right. We were building some volume here, but not nearly the volume needed to serve the worldwide community for iPhone and Apple.

[Wendell Weeks]

Watch.

[Tim Cook]

Watch. And so there's an extraordinary amount of increased volume moving here now.

[Jim Cramer]

I haven't talked enough about the watch. Look, the watch. Always my biggest worry is it is so out there that I am going to scratch it. I've had every generation that hasn't occurred. Is that him?

[Tim Cook]

Yes, that's him.

[Jim Cramer]

Well, I don't know, I don't know how you do it, but it also, I have to believe with $2.5 billion, you'll be doing things that, that we haven't dreamed of. But they're in your head, they're in your engineers. And give us a little picture of, give us some 20, 30.

[Wendell Weeks]

So first rule of dealing with Apple, it's a little like Fight Club. First rule of Fight Club is you don't talk about Fight Club.

[Jim Cramer]

Surprise. Second rule of Fight Club, you don't talk about Fight Club.

[Wendell Weeks]

So we're not going to talk about the next generation of products we're doing for my friend here. Thank you.

[Jim Cramer]

Well, that, that is absolutely fair. I sometimes feel that when you made your commitment to $600 billion, that it seems like that you could replicate what you're doing with glass in a lot of different verticals. You're doing it with semiconductors. I don't think people even know that you're doing it.

[Tim Cook]

Yeah, I think it will be understood over time. But what we're doing in semiconductors is we've taken a look at the entire supply supply chain. And so starting with the wafer, or actually pre wafer, because Wendell is involved in this as well.

[Jim Cramer]

These are made of sand.

[Wendell Weeks]

This is actually made of Polysilicon.

[Jim Cramer]

Okay.

[Wendell Weeks]

One of the purest materials in the world of which we actually source to Apple supply chain.

[Tim Cook]

And then, you know, it goes to global Wafers, a company that's in Texas and they will serve companies like tsmc which will do the provide the fab for the product for the chips. And then amcor another company that's located in Arizona will do packaging. And of course, Applied Materials is very key to the semiconductor equipment. And so we're looking at the end to end bringing that to America.

[Jim Cramer]

Now, we know that there is a component of glass that you use for your beautiful mops. When can that be made here? Or is that just something that, that. I mean, they're the best glass makers in the world. I. Why, I know they make a lot of plants overseas. Or is it just not convenient or simple to have the glass made here?

[Tim Cook]

Well, today we're focusing on iPhone and Apple Watch, which has substantial volume.

[Jim Cramer]

Okay. I do got to get there.

[Wendell Weeks]

And part of it's us. We're moving so much production here that we're starting with the highest priority and the most innovative product sets. Okay. So that, that's. We're starting here because it's starting.

[Jim Cramer]

It can go. It can go. We'll be back in a moment for what I think is a pretty amazing discussion.

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Coming up, raise your glass. Kramer's conversation around American innovation continues with the CEOs of Corning and Apple Next.

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[Jim Cramer]

Before the break, we aired the first part of our interview with Corning Chairman and CEO Wendell Weeks and Apple CEO Tim Cook. But we had a lot more to talk about, so take a look, gentlemen. Got some good news from the fda. Our Apple watches will be the way we can measure hypertension, the leading killer of people in the world. Now. I don't know, Wendell. I know that's Your glass. That's my wife. That's your glass. But you've got to be proud of what you guys have created with the Apple Watch.

[Wendell Weeks]

We're so excited about being able to participate in something that is actually going to help people's health as well.

[Jim Cramer]

Well, that has been your mission.

[Tim Cook]

That's absolutely right. You know, we think we're going to notify 1 million people in the first year alone that they have hypertension and to get them to reach out to their doctors to come up with a regimen.

[Jim Cramer]

Do people do it? Do people use a lot of the different healthcare things? You've got involved with this right now.

[Tim Cook]

It's unbelievable, Jim. I get notes every day from people who maybe they fell and was incapacitated and the watch called out emergency services for them. Maybe they were in a crash and the same thing transpired. Maybe they have AFIB and didn't know it and the doctor told them that they would have died if not having reached out. And so all the time I'm getting.

[Jim Cramer]

Notes, well, let's just go back to Harrodsburg and just touch on kind of like the our town perception here. There are a lot of towns that had factories in them. We all know them. Some of us grew up, grew up in them. And then the factories left because it was a bargain. We had cheap goods, but they got the jobs as you got China got the jobs. Why did Corning stay?

[Wendell Weeks]

So we view it as our responsibility as, as an American company and as management that when we dedicate a plant in a community, we view that as a social contract. Like, for instance, we opened this plant in 1952 actually to do some Cold War products. But then we shifted it to ophthalmic, a new invention from ourselves to do photochromics. But then that product had its inevitable maturity and cycle. So then we brought another of our inventions here, lcd. And then when Steve came to us and Apple came to us for the very first Gorilla Glass, we brought that innovation here. So for us, what we have to be able to do is view communities and our people as we'll do whatever products here that we innovate, and we're committed to it. So that's why when you walk around the factory, you'll meet people who their third generation Corning employees in this factory. But what the people today are doing has nothing to do with what their grandfather did.

[Jim Cramer]

All right, now, in 2017, we got together, you had just come up with $1 billion American manufacturing plan, which you folks were involved. Now it's 600 billion. That, of course, the interstate highway system costs 600 billion in real dollars. I mean, you're these days dollars. You're making commitment to America. I don't know, Tim, how you can put it all to work. How many Wendell Weeks are there? How many cornings are there?

[Tim Cook]

Well, we do business with 9,000 different partners across the US to different, you know, small, medium and large kind of companies. We're in all 50 states with these suppliers. And there's 450,000 jobs collectively across that footprint. And we are very proud to be expanding that further this year to the 600 billion level. And I do think that over the next four years, which is the time period that we're talking about, we'll be able to put that to work.

[Jim Cramer]

Well, I mean, that would be monumental though. It's hard for the US government to put 50 billion to work in the Chips Act. They really didn't have it together to do it. Why will Apple be able to do it?

[Tim Cook]

Well, I, I think there's a couple of things. One is we have a global footprint. And so when you're able to divert production from other places to make production for the global environment, all of a sudden it goes up exponentially because the US Is about a third of our demand, give or take. And so you can add a lot by making it global and then stitching together the end to end supply chain and semiconductors. I can't stress how important this is and how much that will add to what, what we're doing now.

[Jim Cramer]

When I think about what has to be accomplished, I know there are a lot of people who feel this is a White House decision and if Apple didn't do this, there would be big tariffs on what they make. I listened to what you said about Steve Jobs calling you. He did not call Beijing and say, I want the best class. It is not like Apple to do that either. I mean, there's a perception you do so much business overseas, it does make sense to build a lot of stuff where it is economic. But are you telling me it is economic for you and for me, for my trust as a shareholder to think that it is the right thing to find enough workers in America to do the kind of thing you want?

[Tim Cook]

Yeah, I think it's absolutely in the best interest of the shareholder. I think it's also in the best interest of the employees and Americans, America. And we're thrilled to do it and we're getting significant support from the administration to pull that off. You know, the President has said that he wants more in The United States. And we want more in the United States.

[Jim Cramer]

But you, I mean, you did this, this idea, a brilliant idea in Detroit where you opened up just in August. Now that's something that you should tell me about because I think you're going to have to replicate that in many cities in order to be able to find the Americans you need to do the kind of work you're talking about.

[Tim Cook]

Yeah, we opened a manufacturing academy just last month in August. And what we hope to do is touch many small and medium businesses that can bring more manufacturing into the United States and help train them.

[Jim Cramer]

Now, how about you, Wendell? I mean, you have always been committed, it goes without saying, because you're probably maybe one of the most most important, if not the most important American manufacturer over multiple years. Are there things that you can bring back? Are there things that you will bring back because of what Tim is doing?

[Wendell Weeks]

Absolutely. It's one of the reasons we're here today. If you just think about bringing 100% of the worldwide production of the iPhone and the Apple Watch to this factory, that is any enormous increase in manufacturing here. And now as we do that, as you discuss people, what we'll do is to get those people, we will bring them on board. We do apprenticeships, we do both classroom. We have to train folks into the skill sets required to do products as complicated as we need to do for Tim.

[Jim Cramer]

Well, you did say at one point in a terrific interview that it's that you can lose it. You can lose that skill, that if you decide to let it rot, it goes away. You never did. But you've seen other industrialists who really just said, you know what? I'm fed up with America. I'm going away. Is that turning and is. If we have a level playing field, is this a better place to make things than anywhere else in the world?

[Wendell Weeks]

Absolutely. This can be a low cost platform as well as an innovative platform. We've already proven it in fiber optics. The world's lowest cost manufacturing site, the world is in North Carolina to make fiber optics. Now it helps.

[Jim Cramer]

North Carolina, Yeah.

[Wendell Weeks]

We invented fiber optics, but the two largest and lowest cost plants in the world are both in North Carolina and they're both corning plants. And so this is very doable. But like we're doing here, it takes innovation. And that's what Tim and I are doing together. We're going to bring together these joint teams and innovation center to do just that.

[Jim Cramer]

And so Tim, you grew up in Mobile. Mobile, Alabama, small town. They had two. You made literal ships, literally the LI T O R L kind for the Navy but you had a big international paper plate. There was a giant employer there that goes away that went what do you do? What was the compact, the social compact with the people who worked there?

[Tim Cook]

Yeah, I do come from a very small town called Robertsdale. It's a few thousand people, great salt of the earth people. I come from a blue collar family. My dad was in the shipbuilding business still around. It needs to be revitalized and hopefully that is happening. But I've seen the communities when things go away and it's so important that there be a hub of economic activity in different places because it's take this plant as an example. This plant creates so many jobs out in the community as well because you have more restaurants, more stores, more groceries, all the things that people buy that work here. And so it's a virtuous cycle to create a hub of activity. And we're doing that across America in 79 different factories now.

[Jim Cramer]

And are you putting like Nucor does? They look and see where the workforce had been left behind that was qualified by other, other companies that just went away. Are you right now planning on things in cities that we don't know about that are going to be helped by Apple the way we've never seen a city be helped?

[Tim Cook]

There will definitely be different places that have those characteristics.

[Jim Cramer]

Yes, well, that'll be magical. Yes, that'll be magic.

[Tim Cook]

Yeah.

[Jim Cramer]

Well look, I want to thank you Wendell Weeks who's the CEO of Corning. Thank you for this by the way.

[Wendell Weeks]

And Tim Cook made right here in Harrisburg, Kentucky.

[Jim Cramer]

Well, a lot of great things are made here. Thank you gentlemen.

[Commercial/Promotional Announcer]

Coming up, could the Bluegrass State help make you some green Kramer's boots on the ground in Kentucky for an inside look at the American glassmaker Pass powering the future of tech.

[Jim Cramer]

Next, earlier I showed you my two part interview with Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple and Wendell Weeks, the Chairman CEO of Corning. We got to talking about their long standing partnership and Apple's recent decision to double down on it. But I didn't get a chance to say celebrate just how successful Corning has been in this environment. This is a company that's famous for making all sorts of specialty glass, putting the fiber optic cables that are used to link graphics cards processor at the heart of the data center. That among a host of other fiber segments is why Corning's business is booming. This Stock is up 84% over the past 12 months. But don't take it from me, after the big double interview, I Got to check in with Wendell Weeks, the chairman CEO of Corning, on his smoking hot business. So take a look. When we've been talking about glass and glass is fabulous and what you do with Apple is amazing, I have been following other aspects to your business. For instance, what you're doing with the data center. Not only is it unrecognized, but it may be the fastest growing component of a data center.

[Wendell Weeks]

Well, certainly is our fastest growing business right now.

[Jim Cramer]

Now tell me about how much glass is in a data center and how much could be if the new chips of Jensen Wong's in video decide to embrace glass. Because right now there's a lot of copper that burns bad.

[Wendell Weeks]

So almost all of our growth today is built on what's called the scale out of the network.

[Jim Cramer]

Network.

[Wendell Weeks]

And what scale out is doing is it's just connecting more and more AI clusters together. Which you're referring to is something called scale up. And what that is is within an AI node, connecting more and more of the GPUs within that node across server racks. Once you do that, the distance can climb enough that it's more techno economical to use optical fiber than copper.

[Jim Cramer]

I know that could be a couple years from now, but I think it's important to recognize how the current scale is making a lot of money. And just so before we get to some other enterprises, why don't you tell people how much glass, how many miles of glass there is in the data center.

[Wendell Weeks]

Well, let me give you a great example. Metas Big Link, L.A. campus that he has posted on X about and the like. So that data center. And it's a big one.

[Jim Cramer]

Yeah.

[Wendell Weeks]

Like if they were to overlay it on Manhattan, it would be like second up to 86th or 87th.

[Jim Cramer]

Right.

[Wendell Weeks]

And probably from about second 8th Avenue. So it's large. But what's even more stunning is how much fiber is in there. That's going to need 8 million miles of fiber. So that's enough fiber to go around the equator of the earth 320 times. That's enough fiber to directly connect every home, every single family home in the whole state of New York and light it up with fiber.

[Jim Cramer]

That is unbelievable. That's one campus, five billion homes. I have to believe that people are not as familiar with that operation Operation yet. Because I think people don't understand that even just the connect those different nodes is a huge business. People look, I want copper, Alex. Copper burn. It causes pollution because it burns hot. But give me a sense of what could happen in order to be able to make it so maybe we could use less energy if it were all glass in there.

[Wendell Weeks]

Well, what the concept is to be able to bring glass to the back plane of the server is that it will be more power efficient, it would make more efficient use of the wafers, which is where a big hunk of the cost is. Right. And that in total, once you have to travel a little more distance, it'll lead to lower cost. So that is the promise of this. Of course there's a lot of innovation to be done to make that happen.

[Jim Cramer]

But won't corning be the one what it does, the innovation.

[Wendell Weeks]

We're working hard on it, Jim. It's, it's such a huge opportunity for us. If you take our entire enterprise business today, if, if which is all aimed at scale out scale up, would be two to three times that size.

[Jim Cramer]

Now people should recognize that you have been growing at a pace that far exceeded what we thought. Now some of the, that is because of things that you have done like the springboard plan, but some of it is just because the business is just moving faster than everybody thought.

[Wendell Weeks]

Without question, we have a combination of both trends that are, they're all secular trends that are technologies that we're behind. We're right on top of we created.

[Jim Cramer]

It, we take them down because people don't want which is AI and you.

[Wendell Weeks]

Have both inside the data center center, but also you have to connect those data centers together. So it's really leading to a rebuild of the whole long haul network.

[Jim Cramer]

So that's fiber optics. That's what's the major business for a very long time.

[Wendell Weeks]

Yes. And now is now it's growing again.

[Jim Cramer]

I can't believe it.

[Wendell Weeks]

Then you go over to what we've been spending our day on today. All mobile consumer electronics. As you get more corning in all of the mobile consumer electricity electronics that you're using today, more and more of our innovations are being adopted at higher and higher value. And you heard a lot about that from Tim today. And then we have businesses that are all entirely new that we're putting on, for instance, our new solar business, which is we're going to do really the largest American made ingot wafer plant right in Michigan. And that's going to about triple our run rate in what today would be about a $200 million or so a quarter run rate in hemlock and solar. We're going to triple that rate by as early as the end of next year.

[Jim Cramer]

Is solar now one of the cheapest ways of energy?

[Wendell Weeks]

Yes, energy is one of those things, all energy. It's all what government policy is one way or the other and then it's what you count. But solar for sure is an important part of the overall matrix that you need.

[Jim Cramer]

Now I thought that you guys would be hurt and your stock got hurt by tariffs. But the stock got hurt but not really your business. It really didn't impact you.

[Wendell Weeks]

No. Terrorists really have de minimis impact on us and that's because of our philosophy. You got a sense of that today in the factory we locate close to our customers because the primary way that we win is with innovation. So as a result, let's take the U.S. for example. 90% of our U.S. revenue is created by U.S. origin products. Only 1% of what we sell in the United States we make in China. So tariffs because of our fundamental philosophy and our values tend not to have a significant impact on us.

[Jim Cramer]

Okay, one last thing. When you get 2.5 billion from Apple, does that allow you to also switch other things, be able to put some resources say toward data center? Is it fungible like that?

[Wendell Weeks]

What it does is that is 100% dedicated to making this facility be the center of the world for all things doing with mobile consumer electronics and Apple. But what it does do is to the extent that frees up my shareholders capital, what I'm able to do is invest that in what I hope will be the killer innovations for something like the scale up piece of.

[Jim Cramer]

You have some of the most obviously secular trends that people aren't thinking about. We used to call you glow worm GLW that's on the trading desk. I call you growth. Thank you Wendell Weeks, Chairman CEO of Corning.

[Wendell Weeks]

Thank you Tim.

[Commercial/Promotional Announcer]

Coming up, Cramer takes your calls. And the sky's the limit. It's a fast fire lightning round.

[Jim Cramer]

Next. I felt right at home when I got here because they have a soundboard here at Corning that's just like mine. And now it is time. It's time for the lightning round. Thanks so much. Round for cold light shame. The Stockton Bob advice also just go to source, play the sound and then the lightning round is over. Are you ready Steve? Dag. Some of the lightning round catches of. Let's start with forest in Texas. Forest. Good afternoon Jim from Texas. I'll take it. What do you have for me? Okay, so open door. I saw this as a speculative stock pick in my portfolio. Watched it for about six months. Saw it go from four down to about 50 cents. Then heard some rumors of changing business models. CEO change, those types of things. Got it. At $171. It went up to. Then you're going to ring the register. We don't want to be in a meme. Stop. We there. Okay. Tom in Florida. Tom. What up, Doe? Jim, this is Tom from beautiful Boca Raton, Florida. Originally Detroit. Boca Raton's fabulous. Yeah, I would love to to hear your take on Terra Wolf and tell me if there is an upside going forward. Thank you so much for taking my call. Terra Wolf. No, no. Terra Wolf is just kaput. We want to go elsewhere. We do not have to mess with that low quality. We like high quality. High quality only on bad money. Now we're going to go to Angelo in Florida. Angelo. Jim, it's a pleasure to talk to you. I'm a very happy club member. The reason why I'm calling. Oh, fantastic. Big meeting next week. Week. Yeah. I'm psyched about it. Looking forward to it. What I wanted to ask you was about over a year ago you made a great presentation on the show regarding a stock called Hubble and I know they have a new CFO and I was wondering if you thought this was a buy, hold or sell at this point. I just want to stay long it. No need to buy it up here because this thing has been such a rocket ship. We have to wait for it to come down a little bit. But yeah, Hubble remains just a fantastic American industrial company. Now we're going to go to Steve in Illinois. Steve. Hi, Jim. Steve from Chicago. First watcher. I excellent years. Many, many shows ago you had Lumentum holdings on Mad Money. You liked what you heard from them and so did I. So I took a position. It has done nothing for for years, but I had faith and held on. Recently it's exploded to the upside. Should I hold on for more or sell? No, no, we're going to sell half on Monday morning. Half. Okay. Then we'll play with the houses money and we'll be incredibly happy. Even happier than we are now. Let's go to Dean in California.

[Tim Cook]

Dean, Hi Jim, first time caller, longtime listener. Thanks for taking my call.

[Jim Cramer]

Excellent. Oh, my pleasure. What's going on?

[Tim Cook]

Yeah, I hold Summit Therapeutics and they had some little bit bad news regarding.

[Jim Cramer]

Their drug for the cancer screening.

[Tim Cook]

What is your thought?

[Jim Cramer]

Yeah, no, no. We're gonna have to move on. Sometimes you have these things, they just don't come back. That was a bad one. I'm sorry. I'd love to be able to say don't worry about it but I'm gonna. I know that there's an insider buy. You don't have to have it hard to get out. But but I'm not crazy about what can I say. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the conclusion of the Lightning Round.

[Commercial/Promotional Announcer]

The Lightning Round is sponsored by Charles Schwab.

[Jim Cramer]

Thanks to all my terrific new friends here at Corning Plant in Harrodsburg, Kentucky. I want to thank Tim Cook from Apple and Wendell Weeks, the Chairman and CEO of Corning. What a great time. I hope you had as good time as I did. Thank you so much for your hospitality. Just remarkable. I'd like to say there's always market somewhere and I promise you I find it just for you right here on Mad Money. I'm Jim Cramer and I will see you Monday.

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