Texas Instruments Has Raised Its Dividend for 23 Years. Here Are 3 More Tech Income Stocks

Retirees who want some tech exposure usually face a trade-off between growth and income. These four Nasdaq-listed blue chips narrow that gap by paying growing dividends out of very large free cash flow, and Texas Instruments just marked its 23rd consecutive year of dividend increases. All four yields are low. What you get here is dividend growth and balance-sheet quality, with current income as a smaller part of the return. Below, each name is ranked by safety first, then yield.

Texas Instruments: 23 Straight Years of Raises Backed by a Cash Pledge

Texas Instruments (NASDAQ:TXN | TXN Price Prediction) has the highest yield in the group at 1.83%, with an annualized forward dividend of $6.08 per share. The recent increase raised the quarterly payout 7% to $1.52 per share, and the stock went ex-dividend on that payment today.

Dividend safety: Management ties the dividend directly to cash generation. The CFO said the raise “reflects our continued commitment to return all free cash flow to owners over time.” Over the trailing 12 months, free cash flow was $8.4 billion on $9.9 billion of operating cash flow. The forward dividend works out to roughly 78.9% of trailing EPS of $7.71, the highest payout ratio of these four. TI holds $8.1 billion in cash and short-term investments against $13.65 billion of debt carrying a weighted average coupon of 4.11%.

Track record: The dividend record goes back to 1999. The quarterly payout was as low as $0.10 in 2008 and $0.90 in 2020 before reaching today’s $1.52.

Bull case: TI’s heavy 300mm factory expansion is winding down, and that is the biggest long-term driver for your income. Management expects 2026 capital spending of $2 billion to $3 billion, and as spending falls, more cash is left for owners. Its analog and embedded chips go into industrial, automotive, data center, and personal electronics markets, so demand comes from many places. The CEO calls “the long-term growth of free cash flow per share” the company’s best measure of value. The stock trades at 27 times forward earnings after a 74.51% year-to-date gain.

Risk: Trailing free cash flow includes $1.6 billion of CHIPS Act incentives. With most earnings already going to the dividend, coverage would tighten if those incentives fade during a chip downturn.

Cisco Systems: 15 Years of Raises and Room to Spare

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) yields 1.51%. It pays a quarterly dividend of $0.42 per share, or $1.68 on an annualized forward basis.

Dividend safety: In fiscal 2026, Cisco returned $12.7 billion to shareholders, equal to 99% of free cash flow. That included $6.6 billion in dividends and $6.1 billion in buybacks. Dividends alone used about 46.5% of the year’s $14.18 billion in operating cash flow. The forward dividend is roughly 38.8% of fiscal 2026 non-GAAP EPS of $4.33 and about 50.5% of trailing GAAP EPS. Buybacks act as a cushion: if cash ever got tight, they could be cut first to protect the dividend. Cisco ended the year with $15.9 billion in cash and investments.

Track record: The CFO said, “We increased our dividend for the 15th consecutive year in FY 2026.” The quarterly payout has grown from $0.06 in 2011, although recent raises have been small, going from $0.40 to $0.41 to $0.42.

Bull case: AI networking demand is driving a new growth cycle. AI infrastructure orders reached $9.3 billion for FY2026, and fiscal 2027 guidance calls for non-GAAP EPS of $5.05 to $5.11. If earnings grow faster than the dividend, the payout ratio falls, and room for future raises grows. More than $46 billion in remaining performance obligations gives good revenue visibility. Shares trade at 21 times forward earnings.

Risk: AI hardware carries lower margins than Cisco’s traditional business, and gross margin has narrowed to 66.3% from 68.4%. If that trend continues, profit growth will lag revenue growth.

Broadcom: AI Cash Machine With a Lightly Used Dividend

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) yields 0.74%, paying $0.65 per quarter, or $2.60 per share a year. A recent increase from $0.59 to $0.65 raised the payout by about 10.2%.

Dividend safety: Broadcom paid $3.1 billion in dividends last quarter, while generating record free cash flow of $13.7 billion. The dividend used about 22.6% of the quarter’s free cash flow. Capital spending was just $532 million. The annual dividend equals roughly 33.2% of trailing GAAP EPS of $7.83. Broadcom is also paying down the debt from its VMware acquisition. It paid back $5.6 billion of long-term debt during the quarter and another $1.5 billion later. Its $59.6 billion of fixed-rate debt carries a 4% average coupon and 7.4 years to maturity, and the company holds $24 billion in cash.

Track record: Quarterly dividend records go back to 2010, and the stated payout has stepped up repeatedly over that period.

Bull case: AI chip revenue hit $16.7 billion, up 221% year-over-year, and management guided fourth-quarter revenue to $34.8 billion. It expects fiscal 2027 AI revenue of about $115 billion. Cash flow growing at that pace leaves plenty of room for dividend raises. At 19 times forward earnings, Broadcom is the cheapest of the four on that measure. The stock fell 6.28% today and is down 15.62% over the past year, which has driven the yield higher.

Risk: Broadcom’s outlook depends heavily on continued demand from hyperscale customers. That means a few large buyers drive much of the cash that funds the dividend.

Apple: Smallest Yield, Biggest Cash Return Engine

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) yields just 0.30%, the lowest here. It pays $0.27 per quarter, or $1.08 a year on a forward basis, after the board raised the dividend 4%.

Dividend safety: Apple’s dividend is the best covered of the four. The forward payout takes only about 12.2% of trailing EPS of $8.85. Its free cash flow yield of 1.94% is far above its dividend yield, and most of the extra cash goes to buybacks. Apple bought back $62.09 billion of stock over nine months and has an additional $100B buyback authorization. It holds $39.54B in cash and equivalents, with debt of 1.52x equity.

Track record: The quarterly payout has grown every year in the recent record, from $0.205 in 2021 to $0.27 now.

Bull case: Apple’s dividend is backed by a business that is still growing fast. Fiscal third-quarter revenue rose to $109.42B (+16.4% YoY), Services brought in $30.74B, and EPS of $2.02 beat the $1.89 estimate. The number of active Apple devices reached an all-time high, supporting future Services growth. The stock is up 27.83% this year heading into its next earnings report, and it trades at 36 times forward earnings, the highest multiple here.

Risk: Tariffs and China remain Apple’s biggest exposure. Last quarter’s results included one-time tariff refunds worth about 2 percentage points of gross margin and $0.11 of EPS, so the underlying numbers were somewhat lower than reported.

Four Ways to Get Paid by Tech

Texas Instruments and Cisco offer the most current income and the longest verified records of raises, at 23 years and 15 years. Broadcom and Apple pay less today, but their dividends take only a small share of cash, leaving more room for future raises. Together, the four give income investors tech exposure backed by real free cash flow, with dividend growth doing most of the work (if the idea of living off the checks without ever selling a share appeals to you, we laid out how to build that kind of ladder in a free guide: Never Touch the Principal).

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.