applied materials inc amat is boosting its dividend by 23 percent the chipequipment company announced monday morning the company’s quarterly dividend is going up to 32 cents a share from 26 cents a share previously it will be payable on june 15 to shareholders of record as of may 25 additionally applied materials announced that its board of directors has approved 10 billion in additional stock buybacks this “supplements” the company’s previous repurchase authorization which had 47 billion remaining as of the end of applied materials’ fiscal first quarter “the dividend increase our largest in five years and the new share repurchase authorization reflect our positive longterm view of the semiconductor market and our confidence in applied’s outsized growth opportunities driven by our technology leadership broad portfolio of differentiated products and strong customer engagements” chief executive gary dickerson said in a release shares of applied materials were up about 1 in premarket trading monday