4. Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)
Number of Billionaire Holders: 39
Dividend Yield as of November 9: 0.57%
5-Year Average Annual Dividend Growth Rate: 16.57%
Every advanced semiconductor requires a whole suite of specialist manufacturing equipment, and Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) is a major supplier of many of the technologies used in that process. The company’s equipment covers the whole range of processes from deposition, etching, and inspection through to materials engineering. As the designs get more complex, the tools required to make them get more sophisticated.
This opens up opportunities for Applied Materials beyond the current expansion of AI infrastructure. The industry will continue to require advanced manufacturing technologies for high-performance computing, automotive chips, memory, and an ever more complex range of electronic devices. AMAT is also a part of the 10 Best Memory Stocks to Buy According to Billionaires.
Dividend growth is the more attractive element of AMAT’s shareholder return story. The company has a 5-year average annual dividend growth rate of 16.57%. Its current dividend yield of 0.57% tells a very different story for the investor seeking income. It’s a very modest yield in comparison to a lot of the traditional income-producing investments. Even with the large annual dividend increases, investors are going to need to hold it for a long time before the income actually becomes anything significant in their portfolio.
The dividend history also shows quarterly increases, with the declared dividend rising to $0.53 per share in Q3 2026 from $0.46 in the prior period. The company has distributed nearly 90% of its free cash flow to shareholders over the past 10 years via dividends and share repurchases. Shareholder returns are therefore a key component of its capital allocation strategy.
For dividend investors, AMAT is really more of a long-term distribution growth story than a yield story. The question is whether dividend growth is underpinned by sustainable cash flows and whether the stock is at a valuation that allows for attractive total returns.
3. Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)
Number of Billionaire Holders: 41
Dividend Yield as of November 9: 0.082%
5-Year Average Annual Dividend Growth Rate: 41.39%
Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) dividend yield is a mere 0.082%, so it makes very little contribution to an investor’s income. Its five-year average annual dividend growth rate of 41.39% looks very attractive, but that figure has to be viewed in context. A very high percentage increase from a very small initial dividend doesn’t necessarily equate to a very large cash dividend.
The company’s primary investment thesis is its position in the memory semiconductor space. It develops DRAM and NAND used in everything from smartphones and PCs to servers and data centers. Its high-bandwidth memory is particularly relevant to the AI infrastructure space, where you have processors that need to access huge volumes of data very quickly.
The expansion of AI computing could well drive demand for more advanced memory solutions. Training and running AI models is a massive computing undertaking, and memory is a key enabler of how well those systems perform. As data centers grow and deploy ever more powerful processors, their memory requirements could also grow.
The company declared a $0.15 per share quarterly dividend in September 2026. It also announced a 30% increase in its dividend in September, though the dividend itself is still very small in relation to the share price. There’s a very significant difference between Micron and the other dividend tech stocks. Its dividend is not going to be a meaningful source of portfolio income in the very near term. The investor looking at MU should be looking at memory demand, AI infrastructure spend, competitive position, and capital appreciation.
The cyclical nature of the memory business also means it’s important to consider the company’s ability to sustain its shareholder distributions through the cycle. For investors in the dividend space, the key issue is whether the company can deliver on a meaningful level of dividend growth over the coming years. The dividend itself at the moment is of very limited value as an income stream, so the case for the investment has to be based on other factors, namely dividend growth and potential for capital appreciation.
Micron is also added to our list of 10 Best Performing AI Stocks of 2026.
2. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)
Number of Billionaire Holders: 49
Dividend Yield as of November 9: 0.72%
5-Year Average Annual Dividend Growth Rate: 10.20%
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has a dividend yield of 0.72%, which is very low. Its 5-year average annual dividend growth rate, however, is 10.20%, so it’s clearly taken a more growth-oriented approach to paying dividends.
For investors who already own the stock, the regular dividend increases will slowly build up the income from their original investment. The problem for the new investor is that the initial dividend is very small. A $10,000 investment would generate about $72 a year at the stated yield.
Microsoft’s massive customer base is one of its key strengths. Its software is used by businesses for everything from communications and document management through to cloud computing, security and enterprise applications. The Microsoft 365 product in particular creates a very strong customer relationship which is inherently recurring. The enterprise business also provides a real opportunity to sell other products to the existing customer base.
Azure adds another dimension to this business model. Companies are increasingly using the cloud to store their data, run their applications, and do their computing. As AI adoption ramps up, the demand for the underlying infrastructure to train and run the AI systems will be another area of opportunity for Microsoft’s cloud business.
The stock could be of interest to investors looking for dividend growth as well as some potential for capital appreciation, though it’s not really one of the obvious choices if you’re building an income portfolio. Investors would need to look at the dividend cover, the likely pace of future growth, and the total return available rather than just the current dividend.
Those in search of some more immediate income could look at Microsoft in the context of other tech companies which are offering yields in excess of 2%, or dividend funds which provide exposure to a wider range of higher-yielding businesses. For long-term investors, Microsoft’s dividend-growth record may warrant further thought, but the current yield should still be part of the valuation decision.
MSFT is also included in our list of 10 Best Dow Stocks to Buy for 2027.
1. NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA)
Number of Billionaire Holders: 52
Dividend Yield as of November 9: 0.56%
5-Year Average Annual Dividend Growth Rate: 100.62%
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) has never been a big dividend payer. That changed in May 2026 when the company announced a huge increase in its quarterly dividend to $0.25 per share, up from $0.01. Analysts note that, given NVIDIA’s underlying strength and future prospects, the dividend is still very modest and the yield will remain well under 1%. In absolute terms, it’s a massive dividend though. The company is looking to return $25 billion a year to shareholders, which would make it one of the largest dividend payers in the US market.
Even with this increase, it’s probably too early to consider NVIDIA a dividend growth stock. The company launched its quarterly dividend in 2013 but kept it modest for several years before the increase in 2026. It’s got a very strong competitive position, which is another reason why you might consider holding the stock even with the low yield. The moat is wide and deep thanks to the combination of its GPUs, its software, its networking, and its computing platforms. The CUDA software stack is particularly significant. The developers have spent years building applications and optimizing their workloads around CUDA. You can’t just switch to a different platform without a certain amount of additional development time and cost, which is another layer of protection for NVIDIA.
At the end of Q2 2026, 52 billionaires have invested in NVDA, as per Insider Monkey’s database. That speaks to a very high level of interest from the ultra-wealthy, but again doesn’t make it an income stock. The yield is still too low to be of any real significance for an income portfolio.
Investors looking at NVIDIA should look past the yield and concentrate on the potential for dividend growth, the potential for capital appreciation, and the overall shareholder return policy. It’s a stock that’s better suited to an investor who is looking at the company’s competitive position and the long-term growth story. The dividend is just an extra.
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